South Africa remain the number one side in the IRB World Rankings despite suffering their first loss of 2009 with a 21-6 defeat by Australia in their Tri Nations encounter in Brisbane on Saturday.
However, the world champions have seen their advantage over New Zealand slashed to a mere four hundredths ahead of their meeting with the All Blacks in the penultimate match of the 2009 Tri Nations in Hamilton this weekend.
South Africa had gone into the match in Brisbane - a city they had not won in since the inception of the Tri Nations back in 1996 - with a 1.5 rating point cushion over New Zealand and within touching distance of a first title since 2004.
In fact had Matt Giteau managed to convert teenage star James O'Connor's late try at the Suncorp Stadium to push Australia beyond a 15-point winning margin, then New Zealand would have regained the number one ranking.
Australia remain third after ending a run of six consecutive Tri Nations defeats, having increased their cushion over Ireland, the leading northern hemisphere nation in fourth, to 2.43 rating points.
The 1.46 rating point improvement on the back of a sixth successive victory over the Springboks in Brisbane, though, does still leave the Wallabies trailing South Africa by 4.7 points in the IRB World Rankings.
