Cape Town - Despite their win over France in Paris, the Springboks remain fifth in the official World Rugby rankings.

According to World Rugby's website, the Boks’ 18-17 victory over Les Blues on Saturday saw them pick up 0.86 of a rating point, but it was not enough for them to jump ahead of fourth-placed Ireland, who beat Fiji 23-20 in Dublin.

Elsewhere, England - who thwarted Australia’s attempts to remove them in second place - closed the gap on leaders New Zealand to 3.12 points as their 30-6 defeat of the Wallabies was worth more in terms of rating points than the All Blacks’ tense 22-17 victory over a fired-up Scotland at Murrayfield.

Scotland’s defeat to the All Blacks only had a minimal impact on their points total and with seventh-placed Wales not getting any reward for their scrappy 13-6 win over the lower-ranked Georgia, Gregor Townsend’s side are unchanged in sixth.

France’s defeat combined with Argentina’s 31-15 over Italy in Florence means they are now only 0.55 of a point clear of Los Pumas who move up one place, above Fiji, to ninth - the only positional change in the top 10.

Top 20 in latest World Rugby standings:



1. New Zealand 93.99

2. England 90.87

3. Australia 87.29

4. Ireland 86.39

5. South Africa 84.90

6. Scotland 82.31

7. Wales 80.98

8. France 78.77

9. Argentina 78.22

10. Fiji 77.93

11. Japan 74.98

12. Georgia 73.41

13. Italy 71.25

14. Romania 70.91

15. Tonga 70.53

16. Samoa 69.03

17. USA 66.92

18. Uruguay 64.84

19. Russia 64.45

20. Spain 61.48



FULL RANKINGS