Springboks finish the year top of the world rankings after November clean sweep

Not since Heyneke Meyer was head coach of the Boks in 2013 have they won each of their end-of-year Tests, as Rassie Erasmus' charges defeated Scotland, England and Wales in back-to-back weekends this month.

After surrendering the top spot in the rankings during the penultimate weekend of the Rugby Championship following their defeat to Argentina, South Africa arrived in the Northern Hemisphere ranked second overall in the rankings.

However, Ireland's defeat to New Zealand paired with the Springboks' 2-15 victory over Scotland saw Erasmus' men reclaim the top spot, a position they have maintained throughout the international window.

A four-try 29-20 win over England at Twickenham Stadium saw the Springboks open up a 2.0 rating point lead over Ireland at the top of the standings even with Andy Farrell's charges defeating Argentina.

A shock defeat to Wales would have seen South Africa surrender top spot but that was never on the cards as the Boks emphatically put Warren Gatland's men to the sword with the Welsh going the entire year without a Test victory.

Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Elrigh Louw, Aphelele Fassi, Gerhard Steenekamp and Jordan Hendrikse all crossed for tries in the victory which has seen South Africa cement their place on the top of the rankings, a position they will hold into 2025.

This is because regardless of the All Blacks' result against Italy and Ireland's final game of the year against Australia, neither side can surpass the Springboks' tally of 92.78 rating points.

South Africa won 11 of their 13 Test matches only slipping to Ireland and Argentina, losing those two games by a single point. The Springboks also won a full Rugby Championship title for the first time after winning a truncated tournament in 2019 and a Tri-Nations in 2004.

World Rugby Rankings

1 South Africa 92.78

2 Ireland 90.78

3 New Zealand 90.09

4 France 88.51

5 Argentina 84.97

6 Scotland 82.70

7 England 82.31

8 Australia 82.17

9 Fiji 80.07

10 Italy 78.92