The Malta Rugby League national team maintained their international ranking of 20th when the RLIF list was released earlier this week.
Australia head the rankings with New Zealand and England in pursuit and Papua New Guinea and France round off the top five.
Despite dropping 0.2176 points, Malta crept closer to Norway in 19th place. The national team have beaten Norway for the last two consecutive seasons.
Canada, who recently beat 22nd-ranked Jamaica, climbed to no.21 and within 0.7815 points of Malta.
On September 29, Malta play Denmark (ranked no.27) in Copenhagen, the final leg of the 2012 Dove Men+Care International Series.
Malta’s ranking in Europe is 12th in a list of 21 nations.
Top 10 in the world
1. Australia, 2. New Zealand, 3. England, 4. Papua N. Guinea, 5. France, 6. Wales, 7. Fiji, 8. Samoa, 9. Tonga, 10. Scotland