Cape Town - The Springboks have dropped a spot to fifth in the World Rugby rankings despite their 46-13 win over Argentina which clinched the Rugby Championship.
England moved past the Springboks courtesy of their victory over Wales at Twickenham.
Wales had the chance to move to No 1 in the rankings above New Zealand - who lost 47-26 to Australia in Perth - but it was not to be as they succumbed to a 33-19 defeat.
Even though South Africa picked up just over half a rating point for their victory in Salta, the 1.07 points awarded to England was enough for them to trade places with the Springboks and move up to fourth.
Wales stay in second place but are just two-tenths of a point ahead of Ireland, who beat Italy 29-10 in Dublin on Saturday.
Despite their big win over the All Blacks, the Wallabies were unable to climb the rankings as the two-and-a-half points gained in victory still leaves them in sixth place behind South Africa.
Top 20 in the latest World Rugby rankings:
1. New Zealand 89.04
2. Wales 88.89
3. Ireland 88.69
4. England 87.34
5. South Africa 86.83
6. Australia 84.41
7. Scotland 80.17
8. France 79.42
9. Japan 77.21
10. Fiji 76.98
11. Argentina 76.29
12. Georgia 74.42
13. Italy 72.04
14. USA 71.93
15. Tonga 71.49
16. Samoa 69.08
17. Spain 68.15
18. Romania 66.69
19. Uruguay 65.18
20. Russia 64.81
Others:
23. Namibia 61.01
32. Kenya 51.44
33. Zimbabwe 51.42