World Rankings: Nothing new, Boks still fifth

South Africa stay fifth behind Ireland – who edged Fiji 23-20 – thanks to their 18-17 win over France in Paris, picking up 0.86 of a rating point in the process.

In thwarting Australia’s attempts to remove them in second place, England 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.

And in the only positional change in the top 10, Argentina move  up one place above Fiji, to ninth.  Daniel Hourcade’s 50th match in charge was also notable for Nicolas Sanchez overtaking the great Hugo Porta as Argentina’s second-highest points scorer.

Source: @WorldRugby