South Africa's lead over New Zealand at the top of the World Rugby Men's Rankings has been trimmed after the fifth round of the Nations Championship, with the All Blacks gaining 0.38 points for their 43-21 defeat of Scotland while the Springboks received nothing for their 66-7 hammering of an injury-depleted Italy.
South Africa sit on 93.09 points to New Zealand's 92.65. The order of the rest of the top 10 is unchanged, with Ireland third on 88.70 — bolstered by 0.63 points from their 42-12 win over Argentina — and France and England holding fourth and fifth respectively after emphatic victories over Fiji and Australia.
Scotland, Australia, Argentina and Fiji all shed ranking points, while Wales moved further clear of the bottom of the top 10 by earning 0.99 points from a hard-fought 28-21 home win over Japan.
In the Nations Cup, Spain climbed one place to 16th after beating Uruguay 18-12, and Tonga rose two places to 17th following a 43-38 away win over Romania. Samoa and Canada also moved up, as did Belgium — none of whom are in the Nations Cup — with Romania's loss pushing them to an all-time low of 23rd.