South Africa had further reason to smile after their victory over Australia, with that win seeing them move back up to second in the World Rankings.
The Boks surrendered second spot to Australia after their RWC 2011 quarter-final loss, but the margin of victory at Loftus secured their return.
Despite a third loss in five Rugby Championship matches, an injury-hit Australia still sit just over two rating points above England and France and will be desperate to avoid further falls with the top four teams in the rankings to be kept apart in the RWC 2015 Pool Allocation Draw on 3 December.
New Zealand swept Argentina aside in La Plata to win 54-15 and clinch the title with a round to go, but the result had no impact on their rating given the seven places and 13.09 points they sit above Los Pumas. The All Blacks' cushion at the top, though, did increase by one hundredth to 5.82 rating points as a result of South Africa's five-try victory in Pretoria, the impressive Bryan Habana touching down three times in the win.
The biggest movers of the last seven days, though, were Paraguay who climbed two places to 37th on the back of a 29-14 win over Bermuda in the latest round of RWC 2015 qualifers.
Paraguay, who will now face Brazil in another one-off match on 27 October, climb above Sweden and Kenya, while the loss sees Bermuda fall to 50th with Senegal benefiting.
IRB World Rankings
(Old position bracketed)
1(1) New Zealand 92.43
2(3) South Africa 85.61
3(2) Australia 85.21
4(4) England 83.09
5(5) France 83.03
6(6) Wales 82.26
7(7) Ireland 79.85
8(8) Argentina 79.34
9(9) Scotland 77.97
10(10) Samoa 76.23
With thanks to the IRB
Comments
APV1 says...
@ Ferdie - your logic and web-based assistance is lost on the likes of Trinats2 and jonesy2.
Simple things like the ability to read and basic comprehansion are a little too much for them. When they get to big school, they're sure to improve, so give them time.
jonesy2, in particular, has a massive potato field perched by his ear when it comes to anything English. He's never really recovered from a certain November in Sydney in 2003. His grandad told him about it.
Bless 'em.
Posted 15:32 04th October 2012
ruckingkiwi says...
What's the record for weeks at number 1?
The Autumn tests and 6N will make for some interesting movements, could we see a NH team hit number 2, England, France and Wales are all in striking distance?!
Posted 15:09 04th October 2012
melkdave says...
@Trinuts2
Once again i have to tell you im not anti Australia ,what iam is bloody angry at the abject failure of the ARU and J.O'Neil ,who wasted the ground swell of interest from the 2003 RWC,By not starting a grassroots program ect,and have wasted the possibilties of Australia being a top 3 ranked team these past 3-4 yrs to delvelop the game.They have done absolutly nothing to help the game grow or to identify/help promising young talant.Also all they have done is paper over the cracks of Australian S15 teams not being competative ,with the conferance system.Now Australian teams dont have to be competative with their NZ and SA counterparts ,just the best in a weak conferance.To make the playoffs.Given a little luck ,they could even win the S15 championship..Hope thats clear enough for you .
Posted 14:07 04th October 2012
Ferdie says...
Trinats2 - when ABs beat Arg it made nil (zero, like 22-nil if you need reminding!) impact on either team's rankings as Arg are already below them at position 7.
Suspect Wallabies need to start beating teams above them in rankings to gain extra points.
The points system is explained here: http://www.irb.com/rankings/explain/index.html
Posted 09:50 04th October 2012
jonesy2 says...
hahahahaha listen to these insane pommy supporters! insane or just have a jealousy complex and hate against australia? take a note, england rugby is and always will be one big joke. the fact that south africa have claimed 2nd spot in just as big a joke, how the hell does that work? they draw with pumas, get beaten by the wallabies and all blacks and somehow go up in the rankings? utter bullsh*t. not that it matter really because at the end of the day they arent going to change australia will be about 2nd as SA cant hold on even though australia are fielding 5th string sides (imagine what england or ireland would be trying to dig up in the same situation, steven gerrard would be playing fly half and emile heskey in the centres), but as predicted argentina are catching ireland and its only a matter of time before its NZ, Aus, SA, Wales, Arg as the top 5 which is accurate as to the strength of each as a rugby nation
Posted 07:48 04th October 2012
GoWalesGo says...
seapointer
Lol you fool
Posted 07:34 04th October 2012
Ferdie says...
dreaming Seapointer - if you undertand how points are gained or lost (and you apparently don't) a single win/loss causes minimal effect, Wales eg cannot get to 3 this year. nor Arg to 4.
Posted 00:48 04th October 2012
Trinats2 says...
Aus win this week and they will be back at 2nd.
Come next month they will have a new coach and some players returning (likes of Genia, Pocock, O, Connor, Horwill, Palu, Moore, Timani, Higgenbothom to name a few)
melkdave:
even though you hate Aus, I'm sure you don't want them below 4th ?? That would mean they could be in your group come WC, Aus back to full strength top the group and you (if you finish second) end up playing NZ in the first knock out game............end of your WC !!
Posted 23:38 03rd October 2012
APV1 says...
@ seapointer - is that your prediction for the rankings after the Autumn internationals, or where you think they should be now?
If the former, it's not going to heppen. Argentina cannot get that many points between now and then. If it's the latter, well that's a different debate...
Posted 16:20 03rd October 2012
seapointer says...
1 - NZ
2- S.Af
3- WAL
4 -ARG
5-FRA
6-AUS
7-IRE
8-ENG
Posted 14:55 03rd October 2012
InternationalXV says...
Deans can only select from the players available and it's surely not his fault so many are injured. Still that's not where the problem lies. The problem is with Australia's severe lack of depth.
First port of call should be to blame the ARU's senior leadership group and their failure to implement adequate development structures. They never took advantage of the 2003 RWC and are living the consequences of that missed opportunity now.
Posted 13:09 03rd October 2012
new_j4a says...
@all fellow Saffa supporters, let's not get too excited. Oz will bounce back and help to beat us into the kind of shape we need to be in to compete with the rugby Gods from the land of the long cloud.....it'll be a sad day if Oz and the Boks cease to nip at each others' heels in pursuit of the top spot.
Posted 11:48 03rd October 2012
new_j4a says...
@scrumpoacher, not due to trinats....we love trinats. Not due to georgesmith either, he's only posing as an Ozzie (and an adult)....bound to be a Frog....can't be a POM (grasp of English is too poor: POMs with that flimsy a grasp on the mother tongue are solid supporters of the round ball)
Posted 11:46 03rd October 2012
APV1 says...
@ benski - injuries have aflicted all teams. Oz more than most, perhaps, but it's their lack of depth which is showing through.
The Autumn tests will be a massive factor in this. We all want a top 4 ranking come December, but (obviously!) there are only 4 places available. If we agree that NZ will remain at #1 and SA will stay in the top 4 somewhere, that leaves 2 places available. England are only a tiny margin above France and Wales, Argentina and Ireland are snapping at the top 4 heels. And that feels about right - the top 8 are probably the top 8 in the world, with the order to be debated and decided.
Oz are heading downwards and Argentina upwards, with the NH teams sitting in the middle waiting until the Tests start.
I, for one, cannot wait. The Autumn Internationals are always good, but there's a little added spice to this set now...
Posted 10:55 03rd October 2012
benski says...
Not so sure about all the remarks here, don't forget this is a Wallaby "B" team at best. When all the first choice players get fit again it will be a different story. Their biggest headache being Fly Half but really O'Connor or Beale could adequately fill that spot. @georgesmith really mate, it is not Deans OR Sharpe upon whose doorstep you can lay the blame of these poor performances, it is injuries that have destroyed the Ausie chances more than anything.
Posted 09:20 03rd October 2012
brands says...
@ G Smith
were are Oz ranked now because of that losser, looser?
Posted 09:17 03rd October 2012
porridge_time says...
georgesmith says...
Why are you pretending to be Australian when it's so obvious that your English?
Posted 08:21 03rd October 2012
Willem says...
If Australia loose by less than 15 points this weekend their ranking points will drop to 83.92. If they loose by more than 15 points their ranking points will drop to 83.27 so they will be ranked 4th at worst if they loose.
What is interesting is that they can still finish last behind Argantina. For that to happen, Argentina need to win by 19 points, score at least four tries and prevent Australia from picking up a bonus point. If Argentina manage this they will improve their rating points to 81.27 and will then be ranked 7th.
Posted 07:38 03rd October 2012
hellovanite says...
georgesmith... How old are you? are you 5 yet?
Posted 06:52 03rd October 2012
georgesmith says...
If joker coach R. Deans continues any further then Australia will be out of the top five soon. That will mean absolutely no progress by the team since he took charge. When he took charge Australia was fifth and now when we give him a kick on the backside, the story will be same fifth. What a loser coach, no game plan, no plan B, poor player selection, horrible use of the bench and so on.... get the clown out please before he brings the whole stage down.
Posted 06:03 03rd October 2012