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Boks rise in IRB rankings

Cape Town - South Africa, England and Argentina all rose one place in the latest IRB world rankings after victories in their respective November internationals on Saturday.

The Springboks reclaim the second place they lost to Australia during the Tri-Nations after edging another tight affair, this time against Wales 29-25 at the Millennium Stadium. The Wallabies slide one place to third following a 35-18 loss to England, who themselves rise to fourth at France’s expense.

France did taste victory over Fiji, but the 34-12 win against a side ranked six places below them did not have any impact on Les Bleus’ rating, meaning they surrender the tag as the leading northern hemisphere nation in the IRB world rankings to England.

Argentina are the only other movers in the top 10, captain Felipe Contepomi kicking 17 points to help the Pumas to a 22-16 win over Italy in Verona. The victory takes Argentina above Scotland into seventh, despite the Scots not losing any points with an emphatic 49-3 loss to New Zealand.

The All Blacks preserved their unbeaten record against Scotland, recording their biggest victory at Murrayfield in the process, and Australia’s loss means their cushion at the top has grown by more than a point to 6.34 over the new second ranked side South Africa.

Wales remain ninth with the defeat by South Africa, losing half a rating point but still remaining more than three points above Fiji, the side they face at the Millennium Stadium on Friday. Twelfth ranked Italy lost a similar amount and now sit less than a rating point above Japan.

Latest top 20 rankings:

1. New Zealand 93.04
2. South Africa 86.70
3. Australia 85.90
4. England 83.61
5. France 82.75
6. Ireland 81.05
7. Argentina 80.33
8. Scotland 79.81
9. Wales 77.67
10. Fiji 74.39
11. Samoa 74.02
12. Italy 72.35
13. Japan 71.45
14. Canada 69.62
15. USA 68.50
16. Tonga 67.35
17. Georgia 66.38
18. Russia 65.56
19. Romania 65.03
20. Namibia 62.69
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