Late tries cost Boks on rankings

The latest International Rugby Board (IRB) Rankings were released on Monday and South Africa just missed the chance to leapfrog France into fourth place, while Argentina moved ahead of Wales into seventh place.

The main reason for the Springboks' failure to move up the rankings was the two late tries scored by Wales - in the 75th and 80th minutes - of their 38-36 loss to the Boks at the Millennium stadium in Cardiff on Saturday.

If the Boks had managed to hold their 38-22 lead over Wales, they would have gone above France into fourth on the standings.

In the first weekend of November Tests Argentina also went ahead of Wales into seventh place without kicking a ball. This was due to Wales being defeated on Saturday, thus losing points.

Meanwhile, second placed Australia only gained 0.06 points on leaders New Zealand, after their commanding 31-14 victory over Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday.

In contrast to this South Africa gained 0.5 points for their narrow two-point victory over the Welsh.

The biggest movers in the latest IRB World Rankings are Venezuela, after their away victory over Peru by 32-22 in Rugby World Cup qualifying which saw them jump from number 48 to 42nd.

Current World Ranking as of November 8:
(Last week's position in brackets)

1 (1) New Zealand 89.63
2 (2) Australia 87.95
3 (3) England 87.30
4 (4) France 86.05
5 (5) South Africa 85.99
6 (6) Ireland 81.03
7 (8) Argentina 77.05
8 (7) Wales 76.94
9 (9) Scotland 75.41
10 (10) Fiji 74.17
11 (11) Italy 72.35
12 (12) Samoa 70.13
13 (14) Romania 68.19
14 (13) Canada 68.12
15 (16) Uruguay 67.37
16 (15) USA 66.60
17 (18) Japan 65.43
18 (17) Portugal 64.27
19 (19) Tonga 62.72
20 (20) Morocco 61.56
21 (22) Korea 60.25
22 (21) Georgia 59.52
23 (23) Russia 59.46
24 (25) Chile 59.09
25 (24) Ukraine 58.71
26 (26) Namibia 57.77
27 (27) Czech Republic 56.83
28 (28) Hong Kong 55.50
29 (29) Germany 54.28
30 (30) Tunisia 54.09
31 (31) Netherlands 53.49
32 (32) Spain 53.43
33 (33) Paraguay 53.18
34 (34) Poland 52.32
35 (35) Chinese Taipei 50.93
36 (36) Brazil 50.45
37 (37) Moldova 50.09
38 (38) Croatia 49.87
39 (39) Switzerland 49.08
40 (40) Cote d'Ivorie 48.87
41 (41) China 48.82
42 (48) Venezuela 48.12
43 (42) Singapore 47.98
44 (43) Denmark 47.64
45 (44) Madagascar 47.57
46 (45) Sweden 47.42
47 (46) Zimbabwe 47.36
48 (47) Kenya 47.12
49 (49) Kazakhstan 46.86
50 (50) Belgium 46.55