England, meanwhile, fall one place to their lowest ever position of seventh.

The Pumas had overtaken both Scotland, now eighth, and England in the latest rankings.

New Zealand extend their lead at the top of the rankings to over seven ratings points after their stunning away win over France. Despite the defeat, France remain in second.

Australia have reclaimed third place from South Africa after they edged past Italy and the Springboks lost to Ireland in Dublin. Ireland remain in fifth, but are now less than two points adrift of South Africa in fourth.

The large rating points gap and home advantage mean 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 in the rankings 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.

Latest IRB World Rankings:
(Last week's position in brackets)
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
21(21) PORTUGAL 61.49
22(22) KOREA 60.21
23(26)  NAMIBIA 59.31
24(23)  CHILE 59.27
25(25) SPAIN 57.84
26(24)  MOROCCO 56.50
27(28)  HONG KONG 55.21
28(27)  GERMANY 54.77
29(29) CZECH REPUBLIC 53.94
30(30) PARAGUAY 53.82
31(31) BELGIUM 53.42
32(32) TUNISIA 52.70
33(33) BRAZIL 52.31
34(34) UKRAINE 51.77
35(35) NETHERLANDS 51.72
36(37)  MOLDOVA 51.51
37(36)  POLAND 50.78
38(38) LATVIA 49.55
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