Boks stretch their lead at the top

RANKINGS UPDATE: South Africa’s advantage over Ireland at the top of the World Rugby rankings are now 1.25 points.

The Springboks’ dramatic 31-27 come-from-behind win over New Zealand at Ellis Park at the weekend earned them an additional quarter of a point.

Their rating increased 93.37 points, with Ireland on 92.12.

The All Blacks, who surrendered a 27-17 lead in the final 10 minutes, lost an equal number of points in exchange – which means a reduced rating of 88.45 points.

However, they remained comfortably in third place.

Below them, Scotland profited from Argentina’s 19-20 home loss to Australia by moving above Los Pumas into sixth.

A gain of 1.73 points, meanwhile, resulted in the Wallabies replacing Italy in eighth.

In the Pacific Nations Cup, Samoa and the United States both enjoyed home wins against Tonga and Canada, respectively.

Samoa picked up 0.37 points for their 43-17 victory but will remain in 13th, three places above Tonga.

The 0.24 points awarded to United States for their 28-15 win in Los Angeles was not enough for them to improve on 19th, but Canada dropped below Chile, to 22nd.

* Picture credit: Suresh Rajcoomar