Wales' stay at the summit of the World Rugby rankings lasted barely 27 hours after they lost their record-breaking 14-match unbeaten run at Twickenham on Sunday.
Warren Gatland's side had already reached the global summit before arriving in west London following New Zealand's 47-26 defeat in Perth on Saturday.
The All Blacks slipped off the top spot for the first time in 10 years, but it needed Wales to beat England at Twickenham to avoid their stay as the world's number one team being a brief one.
South Africa were the last side to be ranked above the All Blacks as number one in the world, in November 2009, with New Zealand since winning the 2011 and 2015 World Cups.
But Wales kicked off their own bid for World Cup glory with an opening 33-19 warm-up loss to England and only just avoided slipping down to third in the world rankings.
You can read what went wrong here.
Had Ben Youngs' try in the final few minutes stood, then Wales would have been leapfrogged by Six Nations rivals Ireland as the number two side on the globe.
Ireland stayed where they were ranking points wise with their 29-10 win over Six Nations rivals Italy.
With the game was played in Dublin and the Azzurri are way down in 13th spot on the World Rugby list having climbed above USA, who lost at home 34-20 to Japan, they gained nothing in rankings points.
Wales would have been usurped by Joe Schmidt's side had they lost by more than 15 points at Twickenham as that is the point where more ranking points are lost.
But with Youngs' try scrubbed out for a forward pass they just clung on to second spot with England rising to fourth above the Springboks following their victory.
Top 10 Rugby World rankings
1: New Zealand 89.04pts
2: Wales 88.89pts
3: Ireland 88.69pts
4: England 87.34pts
5: South Africa 86.83pts
6: Australia 84.41pts
7: Scotland 80.17pts
8: France 79.42pts
9: Japan 77.21pts
10: Fiji 76.98pts
How they looked before England v Wales
1: Wales 89.96pts
2: New Zealand 89.04pts
3: Ireland 88.69pts
4: South Africa 86.83pts
5: England 86.27pts
6: Australia 84.41pts
7: Scotland 80.17pts
8: France 79.42pts
9: Japan 77.21pts
10: Fiji 76.98pts
