Ireland remain in fifth spot in the latest IRB World Rankings but have moved closer to South Africa in fourth, who they comprehensively beat 32-15 at Lansdowne Road over the weekend.
The biggest gain saw Argentina climb to their highest-ever position of sixth after they beat England 25-18 at Twickenham in their autumn international fixture.
It was England's seventh straight defeat and immediately after the Pumas recorded a famous win calls came for head coach Andy Robinson to stand down. However, it was confirmed today that Robinson will at least remain in charge of the world champions for the two upcoming tests against South Africa this month.
England's most recent defeat means they drop to their lowest-ever ranking of seventh.
New Zealand extended their lead at the top of the standings to over seven ratings points after their stunning away win in France. Despite the defeat, France remain in second.
Australia reclaimed third place from South Africa after they edged past Italy on the same weekend the Springboks lost to Eddie O'Sullivan's men. Ireland are now less than two points adrift of South Africa.
The large rating points gap and home advantage means that Scotland's defeat of Romania at Murrayfield does not affect either side's ranking.
Further down the rankings, Namibia defeated Morocco to qualify for Rugby World Cup 2007 and move up three places to 23rd. Morocco, who could still qualify for RWC 2007 through the repechage, drop two to 26th.
Moldova move up one place to 36th after they edged out Germany 26-24 in the latest European Nations Cup action. Germany fall one place to 28th.
IRB World Rankings (number in brackets is last week's rank)
1(1) NEW ZEALAND 94.06
2(2) FRANCE 86.39
3(4) AUSTRALIA 85.50
4(3) SOUTH AFRICA 85.24
5(5) IRELAND 83.81
6(8) ARGENTINA 79.01
7(6) ENGLAND 78.14
8(7) SCOTLAND 77.72
9(9) WALES 77.02
10(10) SAMOA 73.86
11(11) FIJI 73.15
12(12) ITALY 72.89
13(13) CANADA 69.11
14(14) USA 68.73
15(15) ROMANIA 68.37
16(16) TONGA 66.04
17(17) GEORGIA 65.42
18(18) URUGUAY 63.45
19(19) JAPAN 63.05
20(20) RUSSIA 62.82
