The All Blacks have increased their lead at the summit of the World Rugby rankings to 7.96 rating points over the second-placed Springboks.

New Zealand's second-half surge gave them a 27-20 victory at Ellis Park last Saturday, which sees them gain 0.63 of a point while the Boks drop 0.63 of a point from 87.00 to 86.37.

The points reduction over the past two weeks for the Boks, means the margin between Six Nations champions Ireland and Heyneke Meyer's charges have shrunk to a slender 0.61 of a point.

Meanwhile, the Wallabies have moved to within 0.17 of a rating point of third-ranked England, courtesy of their comprehensive 34-9 bonus-point victory over Argentina in Mendoza. Despite losing some ground on France, Argentina remain in eighth position ahead of Samoa.

Following a 28-18 defeat of Canada, Tonga are the only side to move up in the rankings from 13th to 12th spot, at the expense of Japan, who lost 23-18 to the USA. 

World Rugby rankings (top 15):

1. New Zealand 94.33
2. South Africa 86.37
3. Ireland 85.76
4. England 85.40
5. Australia 85.23
6. Wales 84.07
7. France 79.74
8. Argentina 77.17
9. Samoa 75.84
10. Fiji 75.29
11. Scotland 74.59
12. Tonga 74.07
13. Japan 72.62
14. Georgia 72.16
15. Italy 71.85
Full rankings
How the rankings work

Photo: Anne Laing/HSM Images