Fabien Galthié's men, undefeated this season with ten victories in a row, also a first in the history of the XV of France, will now overtake South Africa, the previous world No.1, beaten by Wales on the thread (13-12).
If the world champion Springboks had won, they would have remained at the top of the world rankings, but their defeat, combined with the Blues' second victory in Japan and an All Blacks loss of less than 15 points against Ireland ( 23-12) allows the French to get ahead of them in the next ranking which will be published on Monday.
South Africa will even drop to third place in the standings, overtaken by Ireland who signed a historic success in New Zealand against the All Blacks on Saturday in Dunedin.
The New Zealanders thus fell from second to fourth place, their worst place since the establishment of the world ranking.
© 2022 AFP