South Africa remain in second place on the World Rugby rankings despite winning the 2024 Rugby Championship after an emphatic victory over Argentina.
The Springboks surrendered top spot after their 29-28 defeat to Los Pumas in round five of the tournament and have not returned to the summit despite their 48-7 win in Nelspruit.
The victory in Mbombela sealed a first Rugby Championship title for South Africa since 2019.
It is also the first time that any side other than New Zealand has won a full edition of the tournament with the Springboks and Wallabies winning truncated editions in 2019 and 2015 respectively.
World Rankings after the Rugby Championship
Due to the 7.47 points difference between South Africa and Argentina before home weighting was factored in, the Springboks were unable to reclaim the top spot or earn any rating points with a victory over Los Pumas.
This meant that even with the crushing victory, they remained in second place behind Ireland. South Africa stay on 91.77 rating points with Ireland remaining in the top spot on 92.12 ahead of the Autumn Nations Series.
Meanwhile, a similar case occurred in the other Rugby Championship match this weekend as the All Blacks were unable to improve their rating with a victory over the Wallabies.
New Zealand headed into the clash with a 9.38 rating point advantage over Australia before home weighting was factored in.
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Therefore, their 33-13 victory did not improve their rating while Australia – and Argentina – did not lose any rating points in defeat.
The results during the Rugby Championship mean that Ireland head into the Autumn Nations Series at the top of the rankings followed by South Africa, New Zealand, France, England, Argentina, Scotland, Italy, Fiji and Australia who make up the top 10.
Ireland are set to put top spot on the line when they face the All Blacks in their opening game of the November internationals with the top-ranked side also playing Argentina, Fiji and Australia.
South Africa will face off against Scotland, England and Wales while New Zealand will also clash with Japan, France and Italy to conclude their international season.
Joe Schmidt’s first year in charge will conclude with match-ups against England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland while Los Pumas face Italy, Ireland and France.
Autumn Nations Series: Fixtures and kick-off times for Test rugby’s end-of-year action
Latest World Rankings as of 1/10/2024
1 Ireland 92.12
2 South Africa 91.77
3 New Zealand 88.70
4 France 86.96
5 England 85.40
6 Argentina 84.30
7 Scotland 82.82
8 Italy 79.98
9 Fiji 79.64
10 Australia 79.32
11 Wales 76.04
12 Georgia 74.10
13 Samoa 72.68
14 Japan 72.31
15 Portugal 70.61
16 Tonga 68.12
17 Uruguay 67.39
18 Spain 66.29
19 USA 65.70
20 Romania 62.62
READ MORE: World Rankings explained: How did Ireland move above the Springboks without playing?
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