Japan vs Argentina LIVE: Rugby World Cup result and reaction as Pumas book quarter-final place
The winner of today’s Pool D clash will join England in the quarter-finals
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Your support makes all the difference.Argentina booked their place in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals with victory over Japan in Nantes.
Mateo Carreras was the star in a captivating, winner-takes-all Pool D encounter, with the dynamite wing scoring a hat-trick to take the Pumas to a thrilling 39-27 win.
Michael Cheika’s men advance to a meeting with Pool C winners Wales next Saturday in Marseille, with their attacking game appearing to be in fine fettle as Argentina eye a deep tournament run.
For Japan, though, the World Cup is over, with defeat at the Stade de la Beaujoire also bringing the curtain down on Jamie Joseph’s time in charge.
The head coach’s seven year stint overseeing the Brave Blossoms had lifted Japanese rugby to new heights, and while this campaign proved a tournament too far for a squad in need of a refresh, Joseph will depart very much in credit.
Japan finish third in Pool D and will therefore qualify automatically for the 2027 World Cup in Australia, with Wallabies coach Eddie Jones among those linked to the vacancy that Joseph leaves.
Relive all the action from the Pool D qualification decider, and get all the latest Rugby World Cup odds and tips right here:
Missed penalty! Japan 7-7 Argentina, 24 minutes
Starts right, stays right - Emiliano Boffelli will be disappointed by that given his high standards.
And that’s of even greater concern for Argentina - Pablo Matera is having to be helped off by a couple of medics. Matias Alemanno replaces the back rower, with Guido Petti presumably sliding out on to the flank.
Japan 7-7 Argentina, 23 minutes
A pause while a couple of players are treated gives us a good opportunity to watch this again. Magnifique.
Argentian opt to kick the penalty at goal. Emiliano Boffelli plants the ball on his tee...
YELLOW CARD! Pieter ‘Lappies’ Labuschagne is sent to the sin bin with the incident on review. Japan 7-7 Argentina, 20 minutes
Yep, direct head-to-head contact - that clearly meets the yellow card threshold, and only a late change in dynamics from a carrying Thomas Gallo possibly saving Japan from an upgrade to red.
Labuschagne waves an apologetic hand and takes his seat in the sin bin, awaiting his fate.
Japan 7-7 Argentina, 23 minutes
Just a sense of untidiness creeping into Argentina’s game. Bertranou is unable to corral the ball at the base of a ruck and Lucio Cinti then drops a high bomb under limited pressure.
Hang on, though - TMO Brendon Pickerill wants to check a potential head-on-head collision between Pieter Labuschagne and an Argentina carrier.
Japan 7-7 Argentina, 21 minutes
Argentina firm up defensively, guarding the blindside initially with Gonzalo Bertranou making a good hit on the far larger Siosaia Fifita, before Pablo Matera and Julian Montoya make nuisances of themselves at the breakdown. Matera’s jackal is rewarded with a penalty.
Japan 7-7 Argentina, 20 minutes
World Rugby’s official fantasy game erroneously had Fakatava listed as a centre, for what it is worth - perhaps they knew something we didn’t!
It’s been a cracker of a first quarter, with both sides not letting the pressure of the occasion inhibit their attacking adventure. Argentina punt up the middle with Japan short of backfield cover, but there’s too much mustard on the kick - it trickles out the back of the small in-goal area in Nantes and all the way back to Argentina’s 22-metre line we will come for a Japan scrum.
TRY! JAPAN 7-7 Argentina (Amato Fakatava try, 16 minutes)
Stop that Amato Fakatava! That’s one of the great World Cup tries!
This is a thing of magnificence from the second row. Japan spread the ball to the left after Juan Cruz Mallia’s misdirected grubber, with Michael Leitch contorting his body to get it away to his big second row on the wide outside. Fakatava, such an impressive athlete in the open field, puts his foot down and strides away from Julian Montoya, left clutching at thin air as he dives in an attempt to make a tackle.
For most locks, the presence of a defender in front of them would prompt a head-down plough, but Fakatava has other ideas, dropping boot to ball and lifting a deft little dab over the top. The bounce is kind, sitting up perfectly for the forward to take on the charge, crashing and bashing through the cover defenders to plant down his third try of the tournament. Incroyable!
Japan 0-7 Argentina, 15 minutes
Solid on their own ball again from Argentina, and a half charge-down of their attempted clearance bounces kindly for Juan Cruz Mallia. The full back can’t make much of it with his kick, though.
Japan 0-7 Argentina, 14 minutes
Japan are showing off their attacking armoury here, testing Argentina out wide. Some nifty tricks and flicks are reasonably well marshalled, and a stomping Siosaia Fifita runs too close to Dylan Riley to give his centre a hope of taking a hurried offload. Forward off a hand it tumbles; Argentina’s scrum 30 metres out from their own line.
Japan 0-7 Argentina, 12 minutes
Delightful! It’s the no-look over-the-head kick again from Japan, Naoto Saito this time the exponent and executing it perfectly, allowing a chaser to settle beneath it inside the Argentina 22. Japan spread it to the right, Michael Leitch somehow clinging on to a pass by his shoelaces.
Momentum builds as the close-in carriers punch around the corner...but Saito knocks on! Such a shame for the scrum half with options presenting themselves to his left - but what a wonderful bit of skill to set up the position.
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