New Zealand narrowed the gap between themselves and France in the latest World Rugby rankings thanks to their emphatic 41-12 win over Argentina in the Rugby Championship this weekend.
The All Blacks went into Saturday's match ranked third and got off to the perfect start in their title defence as they scored seven tries on their first visit to Argentina since July 2019.
Dane Coles, Ardie Savea, Jordie Barrett, Rieko Ioane, Aaron Smith and Beauden Barrett all crossed for tries, as did debutant Emoni Narawa in what was a very convincing win for Ian Foster's side.
For Argentina, Lucio Sordoni marked his return to international rugby with a try and their most-capped player Agustín Creevy dived over from close range on the stroke of full-time.
The victory extends the All Blacks’ unbeaten record against Los Pumas in Argentina to 15 matches and also boosts their rating in the World Rugby rankings where they remain third behind top-ranked Ireland and France in the runner-up spot.
With 0.71 points awarded to them for the victory, New Zealand are now on 89.69 points – just over three-quarters of a point below Les Bleus, who they face in the opening game of this year's Rugby World Cup on September 8.
New Zealand host South Africa this coming weekend and will overtake France if they win by more than 15 points. Conversely, a Springboks win will see them jump above New Zealand, while an away victory of more than 15 points means South Africa will be second.
Elsewhere in the Rugby Championship, a hat-trick from Kurt-Lee Arendse was the highlight of a brilliant team performance from South Africa as they made it another match to forget at Loftus Versfeld for Australia. The Wallabies never looked like winning their first game at the iconic venue and they fell to a 43-12 defeat at the hands of the Springboks.
That result does nothing to change either team's ranking, however, with South Africa remaining in fourth place and Australia seventh.
Wales, meanwhile, are still in ninth place on 78.08 points. That means they are 0.69 points ahead of Japan in 10th and 1.93 ahead of eighth-place Argentina, who dropped 0.71 points following their heavy defeat to the All Blacks.
The latest World Rugby rankings
| 1 | Ireland | 91.82 | ||
| 2 | France | 90.47 | ||
| 3 | New Zealand | 89.69 | (+0.71) | |
| 4 | South Africa | 88.97 | ||
| 5 | Scotland | 82.77 | ||
| 6 | England | 82.12 | ||
| 7 | Australia | 81.80 | ||
| 8 | Argentina | 80.01 | (-0.71) | |
| 9 | Wales | 78.08 | ||
| 10 | Japan | 77.39 | ||
| 11 | Georgia | 76.23 | ||
| 12 | Samoa | 76.03 | ||
| 13 | Fiji | 74.84 | ||
| 14 | Italy | 74.63 | ||
| 15 | Tonga | 71.21 | ||
