The Springboks remain in top spot in the World Rugby rankings following the weekend’s action but the All Blacks have managed to close the gap.
South Africa knew that a victory over Italy would keep them at the summit irrespective of New Zealand’s result against France and that is what they did, despite an underwhelming 42-24 triumph.
However, Scott Robertson’s men have increased the pressure on the back-to-back Rugby World Cup winners as they emerged 31-27 victorious over France in Dunedin.
That has reduced the Boks’ lead to 1.8 points ahead of this weekend’s matches, although it could have been even better had the All Blacks taken advantage of an understrength French side and won more convincingly.
As a result, Robertson’s side were unable to break the 91-point mark, while the defeat was not too catastrophic for Les Bleus, who slipped away from third-placed Ireland but still held onto fourth spot.
That could soon come under pressure from England, though, after the Red Rose hammered Argentina 35-12 in La Plata and moved up to fifth position.
They scored four tries in the second period to earn themselves an impressive 1.99 points and open up a gap between them and Los Pumas.
The hosts will also be looking over their shoulders at Scotland after that disastrous loss on Saturday with another defeat potentially taking them below Gregor Townsend’s outfit.
Australia round out the top eight as Harry Wilson’s late try against Fiji kept them above the Pacific Islanders in the standings and dropped the visitors below the 80-point mark.
Elsewhere, Wales’ slide continues after they succumbed to an 18th successive Test defeat following their second-half collapse against Japan.
Matt Sherratt’s team held a 19-7 advantage at the interval and appeared on course to end their horror run, but the Brave Blossoms mounted a superb comeback to take the victory.
As a result, Eddie Jones’ charges moved up one place to 12th while the Welshmen dropped below both the Japanese and Samoa into 14th – unsurprisingly their lowest-ever position.
Latest World Rugby rankings
1 (1) South Africa 92.78
2 (2) New Zealand 90.98
3 (3) Ireland 89.83
4 (4) France 88.90
5 (6) England 86.72
6 (5) Argentina 82.98
7 (7) Scotland 82.36
8 (8) Australia 82.08
9 (9) Fiji 79.52
10 (10) Italy 77.77
11 (11) Georgia 74.69
12 (13) Japan 73.70
13 (14) Samoa 72.68
14 (12) Wales 72.65
15 (15) USA 70.02
