LONDON – South Africa’s last-gasp draw against the All Blacks in Wellington on Saturday has seen them move above England and into fourth place on the World Rugby Rankings.
The latest rankings were announced on Monday – and, by improving their rating to 86.30 points, the Springboks overtake England. The gap between the two teams is just three-hundredths of a point.
Handre Pollard’s last-gasp conversion in Wellington earned South Africa a 16-16 draw against New Zealand as well as the all-important one rating point.
Meanwhile, in the rest of Africa, the second round of the Victoria Cup brought a clean sweep of away wins for Zimbabwe, Kenya and the Ivory Coast.
Only Zimbabwe, however, were able to improve their position on the rankings with their 31-26 victory against Uganda boosting their points total to 50.54 – enough to take them above Lithuania and into 35th position.
Zimbabwe moved up one place from 36th to 35, while Uganda slipped from 39 to 42.
Kenya defeated Zambia 43-23 in Lusaka, with Andrew Amonde scoring twice for the Simbas.
The seven-hundredths of a point gained in victory, though, was not enough to lift Kenya any higher than their present position of 32nd.
The final match of the weekend saw Ivory Coast beat Ghana 22-12, with the sides staying in 43rd and 90th respectively.
Latest rankings (top 10):
1 New Zealand 91.54
2 Wales 89.96
3 Ireland 88.69
4 South Africa 86.30
5 England 86.27
6 Australia 81.91
7 Scotland 80.17
8 France 79.42
9 Fiji 76.98
10 Argentina 76.81
Africa, world rankings (top 5):
23 Namibia 61.01
32 Kenya 52.32
35 Zimbabwe 50.54
40 Tunisia 48.53
42 Uganda 47.62