Australia's thumping 44-15 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield secured only the second victory of the November series for the double Rugby World Cup winners, but it was enough to lift John Connolly's side into third place once again owing to Ireland's 61-10 victory over the Pacific Islanders not counting towards the rankings.

South Africa also moved up the rankings to fourth after defeating England 25-14 at Twickenham in the second of a two-test series against the World Cup holders. The victory, which was South Africa's first at Twickenham since 1997, may have been the only success of the tour for Jake White's side, but it was also enough to see them leapfrog Ireland into fourth.

New Zealand, named IRB Team of the Year, 2006, will finish the year in top place for the third year in a row. The All Blacks, who have won 12 from 13 Tests in 2006, finished the November Test campaign on a high with a convincing 45-10 victory over Wales in Cardiff.

New Zealand's lead at the top of the rankings is now a little under 9 points.

Elsewhere in the top ten Argentina and England remain sixth and seventh respectively despite losing their matches at the weekend. However, Wales swapped places with Scotland to move up to eighth despite the defeat to the All Blacks.

Lower down the chart USA climbed above Canada despite not playing a match, while Czech Republic. Paraguay, Moldova and Latvia all moved up the rankings.

The top 50 on the IRB World Rankings:
(Last Week's position in brackets)
1(1) New Zealand 94.59
2(2) France 85.94
3(4) Australia 85.55
4(5) South Africa 84.71
5(3) Ireland 84.68
6(6) Argentina 79.61
7(7) England 78.68
8(9) Wales 77.02
9(8) Scotland 76.81
10(10) Samoa 73.86
11(11) Fiji 73.15
12(12) Italy 72.79
13(14) USA 68.73
14(13) Canada 68.52
15(15) Romania 68.37
16(16) Tonga 66.04
17(17) Georgia 65.33
18(18) Japan 64.95
19(19) Uruguay 63.45
20(20) Russia 62.82
21(21) Portugal 61.58
22(22) Korea 60.17
23(23) Namibia 59.31
24(24) Chile 59.27
25(25) Spain 57.84
26(26) Morocco 56.50
27(27) Germany 55.62
28(29) Czech Republic 53.94
29(30) Paraguay 53.82
30(28) Hong Kong 53.35
31(31) Ukraine 53.07
32(32) Tunisia 52.70
33(33) Belgium 52.58
34(35) Moldova 52.39
35(34) Brazil 52.31
36(36) Poland 50.78
37(38) Latvia 49.55
38(37) Netherlands 49.53
39(39) Croatia 49.38
40(40) Kenya 49.03
41(41) Sweden 48.75
42(42) Chinese Taipei 48.41
43(43) Arabian Gulf 48.32
44(44) Sri Lanka 48.16
45(45) Ivory Coast 48.16
46(46) Kazakhstan 47.95
47(47) Madagascar 47.95
48(48) Switzerland 47.13
49(49) China 46.58
50(50) Uganda 46.16