LONDON – South Africa dropped one spot to sixth in the World Rugby Rankings released on Monday.
Scotland were the big movers as they displaced the Springboks for fifth position in the world.
The Springboks’ first assignment of the new season is scheduled for June 9 at Ellis Park against England in the first match of their three-Test series.
Ireland with their stellar performances in claiming the Grand Slam in the Six Nations have improved their rankings points to 89.11, but are still some way behind top-ranked New Zealand on 93.99.
Italy are also unchanged over the duration of the competition, in 12th place, but with 71.10 points instead of 71.25.
In finishing fifth in the Six Nations table, their worst performance in just over two decades, England have slipped from second to third in the rankings and have lost 4.64 points since the competition began on February 3.
World Rugby rankings:
1 New Zealand 93.99
2 Ireland 89.11
3 England 86.23
4 Australia 85.49
5 Scotland 83.83
6 South Africa 83.81
7 Wales 83.41
8 France 79.10
9 Argentina 78.22
10 Fiji 77.93