The All Blacks' recent rough spell has added another unwanted chapter to the books, with New Zealand falling to its lowest ever ranking in men's rugby.
The All Blacks have dropped to fourth following World Rugby's latest tweak to the rankings as part of a tough update for southern hemisphere rugby with the Springboks, Wallabies and Pumas all falling down places as well.
The historic low comes after the All Blacks' 23-12 loss to Ireland in Dunedin on Saturday; their third loss to the Irish in their last five Tests. It was also the first time Ireland have ever won on New Zealand soil in 113 years.
All Blacks coach Ian Foster said the result was below the bar they set themselves.
“We’ve had a couple of starts are substandard, which we're going to have to improve on,” Foster said afterwards.
“But you know there was an unacceptable amount of errors in terms of the handling stuff.”
Pressure continues to mount on Foster, whose winning percentage since taking over from Sir Steve Hansen in 2020 has now dropped to 69.6% overall and just 63.2% against Tier 1 nations, but the All Blacks coach said the top teams in the world are now a lot closer than the past.
"While there's a bit of doom and gloom in our camp, it's actually great for world rugby and it sets up next weekend really well," he said.
"It's kind of what everyone wanted, except we didn't want it. There's some strong teams out there.
"We hate losing and it hurts like hell. We still want to be No.1."
The Dunedin result saw Ireland jump two places to second in the rankings ahead of South Africa while France claimed the top spot for the first time in their history.
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After the Springboks and All Blacks in third and fourth, comes England in fifth with the Wallabies sitting sixth.
Argentina meanwhile have fallen down to ninth, behind Scotland [seventh] and Wales [eighth].
Japan rounds out the top 10.
World Rugby Men's Rankings
1. France
2. Ireland
3. South Africa
4. New Zealand
5. England
6. Australia
7. Scotland
8. Wales
9. Argentina
10. Japan
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