South Africa has retained its place at the top of the World Rugby rankings after their comfortable 66-7 win over Italy in Turin on Saturday.

The Springboks’ nine-try success means there will be no change at the summit, despite the All Blacks defeating Scotland 43-21 at Murrayfield.

Rassie Erasmus’ troops could not improve on their 93.09 ranking but had they lost to the Azzurri it would have opened the door for New Zealand. That was never on the cards though at the home of Juventus as South Africa raced into a 45-0 half-time lead before later adding the gloss.

Of course Ireland got the Nations Championship round up and running in Dublin on Friday evening with an impressive 42-12 win over Argentina. The result saw them gain an extra 0.63 ranking points that sees them stay in third spot this weekend, behind the All Blacks and Springboks.

Fifth place England put that position on the line when hosting Australia (sixth) at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Sunday to end the round.

In fact the Wallabies have already climbed a spot without passing a ball this weekend following that heavy loss for Scotland on Saturday. The Scots subsequently drop to seventh position with Argentina in eighth and Fiji remaining in ninth despite Wales edging Japan 28-21 in Cardiff. However, Gregor Townsend’s charges could return to sixth position on Sunday if the Wallabies suffer defeat to Steve Borthwick’s outfit.

Concluding the Nations Championship round-up of teams, Italy stay 11th with Japan losing 0.99 points after that defeat to Steve Tandy’s men.

Today’s Nations Cup action saw wins for Georgia, Portugal, Spain and Samoa, with the latter trio improving their respective ranking list points.

Georgia remain 13th after beating Canada 59-14, Portugal are 14th following a 36-15 triumph over Chile, Spain beat Uruguay 18-12 to climb two places while Samoa brushed aside Zimbabwe 43-7 to climb to 19th position. Hong Kong China will take on the USA on Sunday to end the round.