The Springboks followed up a series-clinching win over the Lions with a comprehensive 32-12 victory over Los Pumas to ensure they stayed well clear of nearest rivals New Zealand in the latest rankings.
Elton Jantjies enjoyed one of his best days in a Springbok jersey in what was a fairly comfortable victory for the world champions against Argentina.
The flyhalf kicked 17 points and also set up a try with a clever crossfield kick after coming into the side in place of Handré Pollard.
Cobus Reinach showed his blistering pace to score South Africa’s first try on 14 minutes, and he was followed over the line four minutes later by Aphelele Fassi who showed great skill to gather in Jantjies’ kick-pass while running at full speed.
South Africa had to wait until a minute from time to score their third try through debutant Jaden Hendrikse, but with Jantjies’ matching Nicolás Sánchez kick for kick, the Springboks were always in command.
The All Blacks also secured their second win over Australia on the trot last weekend, which enabled them to marginally cut down the gap between themselves and South Africa at the top of the rankings by 0.18 of a point to 4.91 points.
Meanwhile, Australia have now become the lowest-ranked of the four teams in the Rugby Championship after the big 57-22 drubbing at the hands of their old rivals.
The Wallabies lost 0.18 of a rating point as a result of their latest defeat at Eden Park, and that was enough to drop them below Argentina in the rankings.
Australia are now down to a record-equalling low of seventh position, on 83.14 points, with Los Pumas one-hundredth of a point better off in sixth.
WORLD RUGBY RANKINGS
1 South Africa 94.20
2 New Zealand 89.29
3 England 85.44
4 Ireland 84.85
5 France 83.87
6 Argentina 83.15
7 Australia 83.14
8 Scotland 82.02
9 Wales 80.59
10 Japan 79.13
