Spain were the only team in the top 20 of the World Rugby Men's Rankings to improve their position this weekend, a 29-20 win over Tonga lifting them up one place to 18th at USA's expense.
Los Leones had lost both previous meetings against the Ikale 'Tahi but they came out on top at the third time of asking in Nuku'alofa on Friday, thanks to tries from Estanislao Bay and Alvar Gimeno and 19 points from the boot of Gonzalo Vinuesa.
It concluded a successful tour of the Pacific Islands, with Spain having taken plenty of credit from a narrow 34-30 loss to Samoa in Apia the weekend before.
At the top of the rankings, South Africa's slender 0.99 advantage over Ireland remains intact after they beat Portugal 64-21 in Bloemfontein.
The Springboks weren't awarded any points because of the large points differential between the teams, and that also applied to New Zealand, Scotland and Argentina who were victorious against much lower-ranked opposition.
The world's number three ranked team New Zealand beat Fiji 47-5 on neutral ground in San Diego, USA, Scotland (sixth) overcame Chile in 52-11 in Santiago and Los Pumas enjoyed a record win against Uruguay in Punta del Este to remain in seventh place, winning 79-5.
Italy and Australia, who are immediately below Argentina, in eighth and ninth, managed to close the gap slightly after victories against Japan and Georgia respectively.
The Azzurri gained a full point for their impressive victory over Japan and are now a fraction away from topping the 80-point mark. Australia, meanwhile, picked up 0.27 points for seeing off Georgia, 40-29, in an entertaining encounter in Sydney.
Japan and Tonga both lost points in exchange in defeat but are still 14th and 16th in the world.
Just outside of the top 20, Hong Kong China are up one place to 23rd on the back of a thrilling 26-25 win over Brazil in Sao Paulo.
The first meeting between the sides was settled when Nathan de Thierry converted Sebastian Brien's try in the final minute.
Namibia, who did not gain any points for beating Burkina Faso 38-5 in the Rugby Africa Man's Cup 2024, drop a place to 24th following Hong Kong China's victory.
In the three other games in Africa there were wins for Zimbabwe (22-20 v Uganda), Kenya (36-17 v Senegal) and Algeria (32-12 v Ivory Coast).
Of all the 13 test matches played this weekend the latter result had the biggest impact on the rankings with Algeria climbing five places to 64th and Ivory Coast dropping nine places to 56th.
Zimbabwe and Kenya improved their rating but not their position in the rankings, while Senegal and Uganda fell a place in defeat.
Paraguay were the only other team to change position, a 45-20 home defeat to Belgium costing them a couple of places with Los Yakares now down to 41st. The 0.83 points that Belgium received for the win was not enough for them to catch the Netherlands above them and they stay in 28th.
