The Springboks continued to assert there dominance over world rugby with a hard-fought 32-14 win over Italy in Turin on Saturday.
Meanwhile, England secured a well-deserved 33-19 victory over New Zealand at Twickenham in London, just their ninth win over the All Blacks in 120 years of Tests.
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As a result, the Springboks have opened some breathing space between themselves and the rest of the world.
While South Africa didn’t pick up any points for their win, the second-placed All Blacks lost 1.03 points.
That meant a 2.73 gap between the two southern hemisphere giants.
England picked up 1.03 points to move into third place, relegating Ireland to fourth spot.
UPDATED WORLD RUGBY RANKINGS AFTER BOKS WIN, NZ LOSE
| Rank | Country | Points |
| 1 | South Africa | 93.06 |
| 2 | New Zealand | 90.33 (-1.03) |
| 3 | England (↑1) | 89.09 (+1.03) |
| 4 | Ireland (↓1) | 88.85 |
| 5 | France | 86.95 |
| 6 | Argentina | 84.30 |
| 7 | Australia | 81.69 |
| 8 | Scotland | 81.21 |
| 9 | Fiji | 81.15 |
| 10 | Italy | 78.98 |
RUGBY WORLD CUP 2027 DRAW AROUND THE CORNER
Meanwhile, the 2027 Rugby World Cup draw is around the corner. Here is when the Springboks, All Blacks, hosts Australia, Ireland, France and Argentina will know their fate.
The 24 teams to have qualified will be placed into four bands of six teams each.
Band 1 will comprise the top six teams in the World Rugby rankings at the time of the draw, Band 2 will consist of teams ranked 7 to 12, Band 3 will be for teams 13 to 18 and Band 4 will be for ‘the rest’.
Each of the six final groups for the tournament will comprise of one team from each band.
As things stand, South Africa, All Blacks, England, Ireland, France and Argentina are in Band 1.
However, Australia, as tournament hosts, will automatically be placed in Group A, meaning that one of the top six teams will join the Wallabies in the same group.
Band 2 currently contains Australia, Scotland, Fiji, Italy, Georgia and Wales.
Band 3 will include Japan, Spain, USA, Chile, Tonga and possibly Samoa (should they qualify).
Finally, band 4 will make up the fourth and final team in each group.
Therefore, the World Rugby rankings are more important than ever before with the remaining Autumn Internationals set to determine who is placed into each band for the draw which will take place on Wednesday, 3 December 2025.
