Wallabies back in third
Australia have returned to third in the latest IRB World Rankings after recording a 10th successive victory over Wales, 33-28, in the first round of November internationals on Saturday.
The victory, combined with England's 21-24 loss to New Zealand at Twickenham, has once again created an all-Southern Hemisphere top three.
The All Blacks are set to celebrate five years atop the ranking this Sunday while South Africa remain in second place, despite their 15-29 defeat to Ireland.
If it were not for JP Pietersen's last-minute try, Ireland would have climbed above Australia, however, the try ensured a winning margin of less than 15 points for the Irish. That scoreline means Ireland remain steady in fifth but have reduced the distance between them and the Wallabies to just six-tenths of a point. Ireland last occupied third position in October 2003.
Following their 40-15 demolision of Fiji, France now occupy sixth place, swopping places with Wales.
Scotland remain in eighth but have improve their rating following their 41-31 victory over Argentina. The South Americans stay 10th with Samoa falling two places to 11th on the back of a 13-24 loss to Italy, the Azzurri's first victory of 2014 was, however, not enough to improve their position of 14th.
The defeats by Samoa and Argentina mean that Japan have returned to the top 10, and their highest ever position of ninth, without playing a Test. The Japanese were in action over the weekend but only against the Maori All Blacks, losing 18-20.
The United States were the only other movers in the top 20, climbing two places to 16th and swapping places with Romania, the side they beat 27-17 in Bucharest on Saturday.
Both Tonga and Canada improved their ratings with victories over Georgia and Namibia respectively, but remain unchanged in 13th and 17th.
Namibia remain 22nd after the loss to Canada, while Russia have inched closer to Uruguay, the side that ended their 2015 World Cup dreams, after winning the first of their two-Test series with Hong Kong 31-10 on Saturday.
IRB World Rankings – Top 20:
(Last week's position in brackets)
1(1) New Zeland 93.70
2(2) South Africa 89.02
3(4) Australia 85.44
4(3) England 85.12
5(5) Ireland 84.84
6(7) France 80.25
7(6) Wales 79.78
8(8) Scotland 78.27
9(11) Japan 75.63
10(10) Argentina 75.45
11(9) Samoa 75.11
12(12) Fiji 74.34
13(13) Tonga 73.89
14(14) Italy 72.16
15(15) Georgia 69.40
16(18) United States 68.71
17(17) Canada 67.92
18(16) Romania 67.01
19(19) Uruguay 63.58
20(20) Russia 63.54
