Ireland 20-43 Argentina
Ireland's Rugby World Cup hopes have come to an end at the quarter-final stage following a 43-20 defeat at the hands of Argentina.
The Six Nations champions had battled back from 14-0 down at one stage to restore some hope, but Los Pumas proved too much in the end to book a place in the final four.
It was the South American side who settled quicker, as Joaquin Tuculet superbly collected a high ball from the back before offloading to Matias Moroni to burst down the right and touch down for the opener. Huge gaps were already beginning to appear in the Ireland backline, which their opponents again exposed when Juan Imhoff chased down Santiago Cordero's chipped pass to touch down right on the line to put Los Pumas in early control.
Things got even worse for Ireland soon after, with Tommy Bowe being stretchered off and Nicolas Sanchez kicking over three more points to leave Ireland with an early mountain to climb. That created a 14-point margin with just 14 minutes on the clock, meaning that Joe Schmidt's men would need to equal a World Cup record if they were to overturn the deficit.
A rare error from Argentina soon after gave their opponents real hope, though, as Ramiro Herrera charged into Keith Earls to earn himself a yellow card, and in those 10 minutes Ireland were able to open their account through Ian Madigan's close-range kick. While Argentina did manage to keep their tally ticking over via the boot of Sanchez, coming after some Chris Henry ill-discipline, the northern hemisphere side cut the deficit right in half thanks to Luke Fitzgerald's score.
The replacement cut inside from the left, dodging one tackle and crashing over to restore hope among Ireland's strong home contingent in the Welsh capital. With Argentina now back to full strength, having conceded 10 points while down to 14 men, the momentum remained with the Green and Whites who were unable to further pile on the pressure before the break due to Madigan's penalty crashing back off the left upright. © Getty Images Only on three previous occasions had a team overturned a 10-point half-time deficit, but Ireland went the right way about adding their name to that list by crossing over less than four minutes after the restart.
Jordi Murphy was the man to bag it - a first international try on his debut - coming after Fitzgerald showed some fine footwork to slip past Agustin Creevy and play in his teammate to lift the roof of the Millennium Stadium. Ireland have historically had the better of this fixture, winning 10 to their opponents' five, yet even with the crowd behind them they struggled to fully contain the world's sixth-placed side. With every last point now proving vital, the teams shared a pen apiece with Sanchez and Madigan keeping their nerve in front of the sticks to set up a pulsating finish in the final match to be held in Cardiff.
The bronze-medal winners of 2007 were perhaps a little fortunate when Herrera, already sin-binned once this afternoon, led with his hand in the ruck but escaped any punishment on this occasion. With an hour of the match now played, and the contest more balanced at this stage than at any other point, Ireland squandered a big chance to level things up for the first time since the opening minutes after Madigan got his pen all wrong.
It looked to prove costly as Sanchez maintained his solid kicking record to extend the deficit to six points, making his the top points scorer at this year's competition, with just 15 minutes left to play. Then came the killer blow for one of the northern hemisphere's last remaining hopes, as Tuculet stretched over the line to put Los Pumas on the brink of the semi-finals.
It was then left to Imhoff to cross over for a fourth try and Sanchez to kick over once more to round things off for the South Americans, who will now face either Scotland or South Africa in next weekend's second semi-final showdown. For Ireland, on the other hand, they have now lost six times at this first knockout round of the showpiece competition.
Australia 35-34 Scotland
Australia have booked their place in the semi-finals of the 2015 Rugby World Cup courtesy of a thrilling 35-34 victory over Scotland at Twickenham this afternoon.
A gripping contest swung both ways throughout the 80 minutes, but ultimately it was a last-minute penalty from Bernard Foley that set up a last-four showdown with Argentina. Australia went into the match as heavy favourites despite losing two of the last three meetings between the sides, and it was they who made a storming start with early possession deep in the Scotland 22.
One chance went begging when Drew Mitchell knocked on just yards from the line following Foley's mini-break, but the Wallabies soon crossed over for the opening try of the contest when Tevita Kuridrani set up Adam Ashley-Cooper to score on his 112th cap.
That tally makes him the third-most capped Australian player ever, and with captain Stephen Moore and centre Matt Giteau joining him in the centurion club this afternoon, they soon needed to call on every bit of that experience as Scotland began to turn the tide. A Greig Laidlaw penalty got Vern Cotter's side on the board from their first meaningful attack, and they were quickly back on the offensive having been forced to weather an ominous storm in the opening 10 minutes. Again they moved into the Australian 22, and this time they breached a defence that had proved so resilient against Wales last time out when Peter Horne darted over from the base of a scrum.
It should have been even better for the Scots shortly after another successful Laidlaw penalty when Kuridrani gifted the ball to Finn Russell when looking to offload, only for Russell's pass to be dropped by Mark Bennett with clear grass in front of him. Michael Cheika's side looked rattled, but they soon composed themselves and began to build some momentum of their own, which resulted in Mitchell going over in the corner after some patient build-up play.
For the second time in the match, Foley was unable to convert from the touchline, and his uncharacteristic misses continued to be punished by Laidlaw, who kicked his third penalty of the match to extend the lead to six points. That would be cut to one by half time courtesy of an attacking move from captain Moore, who opted to kick for touch instead of going for goal. It proved to be a good decision when Michael Hooper touched down from the resulting driving maul, but once again Foley was unable to add the extras.
Scotland were dealt a big blow in the opening stages of the second half when Sean Maitland was sent to the sin bin for a deliberate knock-on, and Australia immediately made the most of their numerical advantage when Mitchell went over for his second of the game and 14th at a World Cup, putting him behind only Jonah Lomu and Bryan Habana in the all-time list.
This time Foley did convert, but Scotland quickly pegged the Wallabies back through another Laidlaw penalty. As it turned out, Australia only managed seven points during Maitland's time off the field, but they thought they had added a fifth try of the match before his re-introduction when Ashley-Cooper finished off a move in the corner, only for the TMO to rule that there had been a knock-on in a ruck during the build-up.
After a shaky first half from the tee, Foley made it two from two in the second with a penalty, but the fly-half then saw an attempted chip blocked and collected by Russell, who managed to offload for Tommy Seymour to score Scotland's second try of the match.
That reduced the deficit back to one, but Laidlaw was unable to edge his side back in front when his kick from the touchline was unsuccessful and that allowed Australia to move two scores ahead when Kuridrani burrowed over from close range after Scotland had lost their own lineout inside their own 22. A fifth Laidlaw penalty brought Scotland back within range, and as the rain began to fall at Twickenham they created another twist in the tale when Bennett intercepted a pass and ran unchallenged under the post to draw his side level.
Laidlaw's conversion then Cotter's side back in front, but Australia were handed a late penalty which Foley converted to give his side a dramatic one-point victory. The result means that there will be no Northern Hemisphere teams in the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time ever.
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