Springboks remain top of world rankings as France close in on All Blacks

Les Bleus overcame Scotland 20-16 in a dramatic affair at Murrayfield on Saturday and gained 1.12 points, which moves them to within 2.41 points of the All Blacks.

The heartbroken Scots lost an equal amount of points in the home loss, but did keep hold of sixth place as Argentina still sit 2.65 points behind them in seventh position.

England, who are ranked fifth, picked up 0.08 points from their equally tense 16-14 home win over Wales, leaving them even further in arrears of fourth-placed France.

Warren Gatland's side's narrow defeat at Twickenham means they hold onto eighth spot, still comfortably ahead of Australia, who have welcomed new coach Joe Schmidt of New Zealand.

Elsewhere in the Six Nations, Ireland's 36-0 win over Italy saw no points awarded to the reigning champions, due to the 16.53 points and nine positions between the two teams.

It was a similar situation in the Rugby Europe Championship Round Two action as no shocks came to fruition in the four games, meaning no changes to rankings positions.

Georgia didn't receive any points for their 31-10 win over the Netherlands. Likewise with Portugal and Spain after their respective 54-7 and 27-5 wins over Poland and Germany.

However, Romania did enjoy a marginal gain for beating team-of-the-moment Belgium.

The Oaks' 33-18 win over the Black Devils, who beat Portugal the previous week, was worth 0.02 points but, again, that was not enough for them to improve on 20th place.

Latest World Rugby rankings (Top 10):

1) South Africa - 94.54

2) Ireland - 92.11

3) New Zealand - 89.80

4) France - 87.39

5) England - 85.89

6) Scotland - 83.33

7) Argentina - 80.68

8) Wales - 79.54

9) Australia - 77.48

10) Fiji - 76.38