Woeful Boks stay 5th in rankings

Cape Town - The Springboks remain fifth in the official World Rugby rankings following their 38-3 defeat to Ireland in Dublin at the weekend.

Ireland's victory was their biggest ever over South Africa, with the 35-point winning margin more than doubling their previous best of 17 over the Boks.

It was also worth one full rating point for the fourth-placed Irish, who are now on 86.39 points, more than two ratings points ahead of the fifth-placed Boks.

Elsewhere, the Wallabies’ 13th straight victory over Wales - 29-21 in Cardiff - came with a reward of just under a fraction of a point to move them to 88.02 points.

They remain in third place overall, just over two points behind England whose own position of second is unchanged following a scrappy 21-8 victory over Argentina at Twickenham.

The All Blacks stay top of the pile, on 93.83 points, after beating France 38-18 in Paris.

Top 20 in latest World Rugby standings:

1. New Zealand 93.83
2. England 90.14
3. Australia 88.02
4. Ireland 86.39
5. South Africa 84.04
6. Scotland 82.47
7. Wales 80.98
8. France 79.63
9. Fiji 77.93
10. Argentina 76.93
11. Japan 73.79
12. Georgia 73.41
13. Italy 72.55
14. Tonga 71.72
15. Romania 70.27
16. Samoa 69.67
17. USA 65.84
18. Russia 64.12
19. Uruguay 63.15
20. Spain 63.15

FULL RANKINGS