Cape Town - The Springboks have slumped to their lowest IRB ranking since Peter de Villiers took charge of the team in January 2008.

GALLERY: All Blacks train

GALLERY: Springboks v Wallabies, Bloemfontein

Kurtley Beale's penalty with the last kick of the game not only secured a dramatic 41-39 victory over South Africa in Bloemfontein, but also sees Australia climb above their hosts into second place in the IRB world rankings.

Australia had led 31-6 midway through the first half, but the world champions came fighting back and it took a 56m effort from fullback Beale to secure a first win at altitude in South Africa since 1963.

South Africa had gone into the penultimate match of the 2010 Tri-Nations with a 2.23 rating point cushion over their visitors, but Australia's win sees them take over second spot for the first time since a brief one-week stay in September 2008.

The Wallabies, for whom victory was only their second away Tri-Nations win in 22 attempts, now sit 0.82 above South Africa as they prepare to face already crowned Tri-Nations champions New Zealand in Sydney on Saturday.

South Africa's fall in the rankings means that New Zealand have increased their advantage at the top to 8.25 points, although this still leaves them over a point shy of their biggest ever margin - 9.41 over France in June 2007 - since the rankings were introduced in October 2003.

The Springboks are now guaranteed to finish bottom of the Tri-Nations table with only one victory in their title defence, but still lie 2.47 rating points above France, the leading northern hemisphere nation, in the IRB rankings.

When De Villiers took over in January 2008 the Boks were ranked No 1, with 90.81 points.

Top 20 in the latest IRB world rankings:

1. New Zealand 94.29
2. Australia 86.04
3. South Africa 85.22
4. France 82.75
5. Ireland 82.03
6. England 81.82
7. Scotland 79.81
8. Argentina 79.70
9. Wales 78.58
10. Fiji 74.39
11. Italy 72.97
12. Samoa 72.74
13. Japan 72.49
14. Canada 69.43
15. USA 67.86
16. Tonga 67.06
17. Georgia 66.38
18. Russia 65.80
19. Romania 65.10
20. Namibia 62.69