About Power Rankings

Sports After Dark publishes Power Rankings for the Air New Zealand Cup on a weekly basis released on a Monday. These are calculated based on hard data around team’s performances so far. A number of factors are considered including the relative strength of the opponents so far, so a win over a highly ranked team counts for more than a win over the cellar dwellars.

One factor which is NOT taken into consideration is bonus points. Points for, points against, and margins of victory are considered, but bonus points have very little influence on predicting the outcome of future games.

These rankings can be used to predict the outcome of upcoming games, the team with the higher ranking is predicted to win the game. As the season goes on, the rankings become more and more accurate.

The Sports After Dark rankings have proven to be very accurate when given enough data, correctly predicting the outcomes of the final two rounds of the 2009 Super 14 and the semis and finals (that’s 17 out of 17 for those keeping score).

If you’re interested in statistics and how they affect the outcome of games, check in every Wednesday for our weekly Inside The Numbers column.