Cape Town - South Africa's dominant 31-8 victory over Australia in their Rugby Championship Test on Saturday has seen them return to second place in the latest IRB world rankings.

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According to the IRB website, the Springboks surrendered second spot to Australia after their Rugby World Cup 2011 quarter-final defeat, but the margin of victory at Loftus Versfeld means they now sit 4/10ths above the Wallabies.

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 December 3.

New Zealand swept Argentina aside in La Plata to win 54-15 and clinch the Rugby Championship 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, which saw Bryan Habana touch down three times in the win.

Top 20 in the latest IRB world rankings:

1. New Zealand 92.43
2. South Africa 85.61
3. Australia 85.21
4. England 83.09
5. France 83.03
6. Wales 82.26
7. Ireland 79.85
8. Argentina 79.34
9. Scotland 77.97
10. Samoa 76.23
11. Italy 76.03
12. Tonga 74.79
13. Canada 72.30
14. Fiji 70.60
15. Georgia 67.95
16. Japan 67.93
17. USA 66.61
18. Romania 64.54
19. Russia 62.05
20. Spain 61.63