Samoa 33-36 Scotland
Scotland squeezed into the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup with a 36-33 win over Samoa in Newcastle this afternoon.
The first half was played at a breakneck speed as both sides ran the ball with confidence, but also committed plenty of mistakes when defending. Tusi Pisi and Greig Laidlaw kicked a penalty each in the early stages before three tries were scored in as many minutes before the quarter-hour mark.
Fly-half Pisi did well to touch down in the corner and then convert his own try from the touchline before Scotland hit straight back through Tommy Seymour, who pounced on a risky Samoan pass at the back to go over.
Both sides were looking extremely dangerous when they got the ball, and Samoa scored instantly from kickoff to restore their lead as Manu Leiataua, on his World Cup debut, scored his first international try. Laidlaw cut the gap with a second penalty kick, but Scotland simply could not handle the pace of Samoa's backline as Reynold Lee-Lo scored a third Le Manu try at the midway point of the opening 40.
Pisi failed to split the posts with his conversion attempts for the second and third Samoan tries, but Laidlaw was proving more consistent with the boot as he reduced the deficit to four. Scotland flanker Ryan Wilson was sin-binned for a stamp in the 29th minute and Pisi kicked the penalty, but Scotland were back on level terms despite being a man down when John Hardie powered over after a strong driving maul. The Dark Blues did go in behind at the break, though, due to a Pisi penalty after Samoa had a fourth try of the half ruled out due to an infringement on Laidlaw.
At the start of the second period Scotland were all over their opposition and they turned down several kicks at goal as they chased a try, but they couldn't find a way through and eventually Laidlaw settled for the posts to level the match once more. Moments later he put the Scots in front with another penalty, becoming the tournament's leading scorer in the process, but then missed two further kicks at goal which would have put Scotland nine ahead.
The first half was the highest-scoring of any at this year's tournament, but the second was much tighter as the game became a stop-start affair. Scotland knew that they had to pull away going into the closing stages and, after a sustained spell of pressure, it was captain Laidlaw who took it upon himself to drive over the line and put the Dark Blues 10 in front.
Samoa had no chance of reaching the last eight, but they didn't give up and made it an extremely nervy finale as substitute Motu Matu'u scored his first international try to cut the lead to three points. Le Manu got the ball back at the restart, but Scotland managed to secure a turnover and whittled down the clock before kicking into touch to send the packed house inside St James' wild. Victory guarantees Scotland second place in Pool B and they will face the winner of this afternoon's second match between Australia and Wales in the last eight.
Australia 15-6 Wales
Australia will meet Scotland in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals after a victory over Wales in a brutal Pool A decider at Twickenham. Early pressure from Warren Gatland's team allowed Dan Biggar to kick the Welsh into the lead and the Dragons tried to increase their advantage, but Gareth Anscombe was held up by dogged defending from Sean McMahon.
Wales showed resilience in defence themselves, keeping the Wallabies out of their own 22 for the first quarter of the game before Drew Mitchell was shepherded into touch after an initial line break. Successive penalties from Bernard Foley put Australia ahead before stand-in captain Stephen Moore failed to move away from the tackle area, presenting Biggar with the chance to level the scores.
However, Toby Faletau was adjudged to have illegally stole possession, leading a third Foley penalty to give the two-time world champions a 9-6 lead at the interval.
Foley extended the Wallabies advantage with another kick, but successive infringements saw scrum-half Will Genia sent to the sin-bin on 56 minutes. Wales decided to press for a try and, despite concerted pressure, Faletau managed to knock on with the line in reach.
Australia's increasing penalty count led to referee Craig Joubert giving lock Dean Mumm a yellow card as the Wallabies were reduced to 13 men. However, Michael Cheika's men managed to withstand several phases of play and held up George North over the line and stayed six ahead after minutes of defending their own try-line. Instead, Foley knocked over a fifth penalty and Alex Cuthbert's yellow card for a deliberate knock forward helped seal victory for the Wallabies.
England 60-3 Uruguay
England have finished their Rugby World Cup campaign with a comfortable 60-3 win over Uruguay at the Etihad Stadium, despite having already been eliminated from the tournament.
There was concern for the host nation in the opening minutes of the match as Felipe Berchesi gave Uruguay a surprise lead, kicking a penalty after Danny Care took a kick in an offside position. It did not take the host nation long to take the lead as Jack Nowell set Anthony Watson up for his first try of the night with kick down the left, leaving the winger to ground the ball just short of the dead-ball line.
England started to dominate possession midway through the first half, leaving Nick Easter to add two tries in four minutes, benefiting from a Geoff Parling pass for the first before diving over in the corner moments later. Uruguay started to see more of the ball shortly before half time, but finished the opening 40 minutes a man short as captain Santiago Vilaseca was sent to the sin bin for coming in from the side in a maul.
England soon added a fourth at the start of the second half while facing a 14-man Uruguay, with Watson scoring for a second time following a scrum. The host nation started to take advantage of the tiring Uruguayans, scoring three more in quick succession as the hour-mark approached, with Henry Slade and Nowell both using their pace to run over in the corner, before Easter completed his hat-trick, easing over from another maul.
There was time for Nowell to also complete his hat-trick with a couple of tries in the final 10 minutes, taking the ball from a George Ford pass, before finishing off a team effort a few minutes later, with the final ball coming from Slade, while a penalty try with the final action of the match took England's total to 10 for the night.
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