Ireland down France
But at what price as three players have to leave the field due to injuries?
IRELAND paid a heavy price for a stirring 24-9 victory over France at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff yesterday, losing three key players on the way to topping Pool D to set up a Rugby World Cup quarterfinal against Argentina, leaving Les Bleus to face holders New Zealand.
Flyhalf Johnny Sexton had kicked Ireland to a 6-3 lead when he left the pitch after injuring his groin and ribs, with captain Paul O’Connell then carried off on a stretcher clutching his right leg at halftime.
Flanker Peter O’Mahony was the next to go, carried off after 55 minutes of hugely physical rugby.
Second-half tries from fullback Rob Kearney and scrumhalf Conor Murray wrapped up Ireland’s first World Cup win over France, with Sexton’s replacement Ian Madigan slotting home two penalties and a conversion.
Fullback Scott Spedding kicked two penalties and scrumhalf Morgan Parra added another after the enigmatic Frederic Michalak had missed two early kicks.
Argentina warmed up for the quarter-finals with a ninetry romp as they defeated minnows Namibia 64-19 in their final Pool C match at the Leicester City Stadium.
It was a comfortable day out for the Pumas, who were simply too fast and physical for the African side, ahead of this coming weekend’s knockout match.
Argentina’s Juan Martin Hernandez, one of the standouts of the side that reached the 2007 semi-finals and handed a rare outing in the No10 shirt yesterday, set the ball rolling with the opening score.
Matias Moroni, with his first international try, Horacio Agulla, Facundo Isa and Lucas Noguera also crossed before the break as the South Americans forged a 36-7 halftime lead, with Matias Alemanno, Leonardo Senatore, Julian Montoya and Tomas Cubelli joining the fun in the second half.
Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias kicked four conversions and a penalty, with Juan Pablo Socino adding four further conversions.
Namibia had to feed off scraps of possession but showed admirable determination to attack and were rewarded with tries from wing Johan Tromp, centre JC Greyling and scrumhalf Eugene Jantjies, with flyhalf Theuns Kotze converting two.
“We knew we had to play well against Namibia and we did that, even though there were mistakes,” Argentina captain Martin Landajo told reporters.
“Now we can think about the quarter-finals.”
Italy produced their most polished performance of the Cup by beating Romania 32-22 to secure third place in Pool D.
Italy’s second win of the tournament condemned Romania to fourth place in the group, meaning the Oaks will have to qualify for the next World Cup in 2019.
Leonardo Sarto, Edoardo Gori and Tommaso Allan crossed for first-half tries and Alessandro Zanni added a fourth for Italy, who are the only top-tier nation never to have qualified for the knockout stage.
Romania, who produced the biggest comeback in World Cups when they recovered a 15-point deficit to beat Canada last Tuesday, produced a spirited rally from 29-3 down.
Adrian Apostol went over for two tries and Valentin Poparlan scored in the last 14 minutes.