New World Rugby rankings as England and France fall and Italy climb after impressive win

A dramatic opening weekend to summer Test rugby has seen a major reshuffle in World Rugby's official rankings, with six of the top eight teams all moving around the table.

The All Blacks, Australia and Argentina have all risen while France, England and Scotland have dropped, with the world champions South Africa retaining their number-one spot despite New Zealand's win over Ireland, with Wales, Ireland and Japan also remaining unmoved.

Kicking off with the first big Test from Saturday, France's 42-23 win against Japan in Toyota made it nine wins on the bounce for Les Bleus (one short of their all-time record), adding 0.37 of a point to their rankings score. However, it wasn't enough of a cushion to prevent the All Blacks, who avenged their autumn defeat to the Irish with a 42-19 win over Andy Farrell's men at Eden Park in Auckland, from leapfrogging France, who drop from second to third to swap places with Ian Foster's Kiwis. Ireland remain fourth in the rankings table.

Australia, meanwhile, ended an eight-game losing streak against England with a 30-28 victory despite a 34th-minute red card for Darcy Swain, allowing Dave Rennie's Wallabies (who headed into the clash sixth in the world) to climb a place to swap with Eddie Jones' England.

Already knowing the result of New Zealand v Ireland, South Africa went into their opening summer Test against Wales knowing anything less than victory at Loftus Versveld would see them toppled from their position as the world’s number-one-ranked team. For the majority of the drama-filled encounter in Pretoria, it looked like the Springboks would be renouncing their place at the top of World Rugby's table, before they sealed a win with the last kick of the game to complete a 32-29