Ireland have returned to the top of the World Rugby rankings after South Africa’s defeat by Argentina at the weekend.

The Springboks were beaten 29-28 by the Pumas in the penultimate round of the Rugby Championship on Saturday.

The loss in Santiago cost the back-to-back world champions 1.81 ranking points and they now trail Andy Farrell’s men by 0.35 points.

The Springboks had been top since overtaking Ireland 11 months ago when the Six Nations champions lost at the quarter-final stage of last year’s World Cup in France.

The sides split a two-Test series in July.

Elsewhere in the rankings, Fiji have taken ninth place from Australia after their win over Japan in the Pacific Nations Cup.