Google's algorithm and new gTLDs

The recent Google's "Inside Search" report (see "The official Google Search blog) reports an interesting change which could be adapted to new domain names coming in 2013.

One of the fourty updates for the month of February says:

"Refreshed per-URL country information. [Launch codename “longdew”, project codename “country-id data refresh”] We updated the country associations for URLs to use more recent data."

Olivier Andrieu, SEO consultant for Abondance.com, translates it in French: "Meilleure identification du pays au travers des URL". I understand a country is better identified because of the .fr country code Top-Level Domain.

Adapted to a new string like "rugby" or "wine"...would it make a difference in terms of positioning on Google?

Mr Cutts, would you help us with this one please?

Search quality highlights: 40 changes for February: report.