All Blacks return to World number one following Springboks defeat to the Wallabies

It has been four years since the All Black sat in the World number one spot.

NUMBER ONE: After four years the All Blacks are back at World number one. ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

New Zealand moved to the top of the World Rugby rankings after earning a 41-24 victory over Argentina 

Sevu Reece and Samisoni Taukei'aho both crossed over twice as the All Blacks clinched a six-try win in Cordoba.

The victory sends New Zealand to the summit of the World Rugby rankings for the first time in four years and knocked South Africa off the top spot, following their defeat to Australia on Saturday

Cortez Ratima and Ardie Saves also scored tries for New Zealand while Rodrigo Isgro, Tomas Albornoz and Joaquin Oviedo went over for the home team.

Beauden Barrett kicked a penalty and four conversions while Albornoz slotted over penalty and three conversions for a personal tally of 14 points.

"We talked about starting well and I think we did that. We finished the second half quite strong - it was a bit of a statement there," said All Blacks captain Scott Barrett.

"In the second half we were a little bit slow and probably a little bit of indiscipline fed their game, which was disappointing and allowed the crowd to get in behind them.

"They threw a lot of punches at us and I'm pleased the guys who finished the game were able to win some arm wrestles, get some territory and most importantly come away with a good win."

The defeat extends Argentina's winless record on home soil against New Zealand to 15 matches with the All Blacks' superiority evident throughout, although they had to see off a second-half surge from Argentina who were 31-10 down at the break but fought back to trail 31-24 before New Zealand closed out the match.

The visitors were ahead after four minutes as Barrett set the tone with a penalty before Will Jordan’s long pass sent Reece over in the corner to put New Zealand 10-0 up inside the opening 10 minutes.

Argentina quickly countered with a try of their own as a long pass out to right winger Isgro reduced the lead to three points.

New Zealand powered ahead with three tries before the break as Jordan sliced through from the halfway line to set up Ratima, followed by another try for Ardie Savea who powered over from a lineout drive.

There was still time for another New Zealand try before the break as their forwards hammered away at the try line before Ratima swung the ball out to Reece and he went over in the corner.

Argentina reduced the deficit 11 minutes into the second half as Albornoz attacked the line at pace and dived over as the All Black defence was caught napping.

When Billy Proctor was sent to the sin bin, there was renewed hope for the home side and they took advantage of their numerical superiority as Oviedo went over in the 64th minute to make the score 31-24.

New Zealand ended Argentine hopes of a recovery, however, as a lineout maul put Taukei'aho over and he added another try to seal the win.

The sides meet in Buenos Aires again next Saturday.

Meanwhile, Rassie Erasmus pulled no punches as he laid into his South Africa side following their second half capitulation in the stunning 38-22 loss to Australia in their Rugby Championship opener at Ellis Park.

The Springboks were cruising as they led 22-0 inside the first quarter, but while Australia grew into the game and began to win the individual contests, the home side wilted in the second half as the visitors scored 38 unanswered points.

"I can try to butter it up and bottle it up to sound cool and respectful. The effort was maybe there but the accuracy or precision wasn’t," Erasmus said.

"It was a bad loss in a bad way. Not against a bad team, we just didn’t have fight right until the end, and that’s not what we want to give South Africa.

"There was a stage where I felt our heads were dropping and shoulders were slumping, and that was part of the disappointment."

Australia dominated at the breakdown, an area that has troubled the Springboks this season as they try to move to a more expansive, running style of play, which makes for a looser contest on the floor.

"We didn’t scrum them and they beat us in the lineouts," Erasmus said. "In the first 25 minutes, I thought we were really good in the breakdown. After that, when Siya (Kolisi) got injured and Marco (van Staden) went for a (head-injury assessment), it slipped away.

"They beat us in most departments. We as coaches got it terribly wrong and we must look firstly at ourselves."

The two teams meet again in Cape Town on Saturday and Erasmus, who has already announced his side for the match to the players, says there may be a rethink.

"We know from now until next Saturday we are going to take a lot of flak. We take the credit when we do well, now we must take the flak when we do badly.

"We already picked next week’s team...but that will probably change.

"We’ll have to rethink it. They tactically outsmarted us and physically dominated us."

Reuters