Wallabies stay 3rd despite beating All Blacks

Cape Town - Australia may have beaten New Zealand for the first time in over two years, but they remain third in the World Rugby rankings behind the world champions and England, according to the World Rugby website.

The Wallabies ran out 23-18 winners in the final Bledisloe Cup match of 2017 in Brisbane on Saturday to improve their rating by 1.69 points, giving them a little breathing space over Ireland and South Africa below them going into a busy November.

Israel Folau was among the Wallaby try scorers to take his tally for 2017 to 12, a new Australian record for a calendar year.

New Zealand's advantage over England is now cut to 3.69 rating points ahead of a month which could see them mark eight consecutive years atop the World Rugby rankings.

Top 20 in latest World Rugby standings:

1. New Zealand 93.83
2. England 90.14
3. Australia 87.28
4. Ireland 85.39
5. South Africa 85.03
6. Scotland 82.47
7. Wales 81.73
8. France 79.63
9. Fiji 79.48
10. Argentina 76.93
11. Japan 73.79
12. Georgia 73.41
13. Tonga 71.72
14. Italy 71.00
15. Romania 70.27
16. Samoa 69.67
17. USA 65.84
18. Uruguay 63.15
19. Spain 63.15
20. Russia 63.13