Wales v Argentina LIVE: Rugby World Cup final result and reaction as Nicolas Sanchez late try sinks Wales
Wales 17-29 Argentina: Warren Gatland’s men are out of the Rugby World Cup having been beaten in Marseille
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Argentina pulled off a fine comeback to sink Wales in the first Rugby World Cup quarter-final of the weekend. Warren Gatland’s side took control early in the game after Emiliano Boffelli missed a penalty kick. Dan Biggar scored the first 10 points with a try and a penalty but from there the momentum swung.
Mistakes slipped into Wales’ play and two penalties later, Argentina went into the break trailing by four. Boffelli found his range and belted a fourth penalty over the sticks 10 minutes into the second half to put the Pumas in front for the first time only for Wales to find a response through Tomos Williams.
They could hold onto that lead though as Joel Sclavi went over for Argentina before Nicolas Sanchez latched onto an interception and all but won the game with a try three minutes from the end. The Pumas head to Paris and Gatland’s men are going home.
Relive the action from Marseille below and get all the latest Rugby World Cup odds right here:
Argentina scrap their way to Rugby World Cup semi-finals as Wales come up short
Louis Rees-Zammit leapt for the corner, and came down with an anguished cry. A scrappy contest always looked likely to be a game of inches - and the Wales wing had come up agonisingly short.
By the end, there were bodies strewn right around the Stade Velodrome, the damage of a demolition derby all too clear to see. Argentina won’t remotely care. Their win was made secure at the death, replacement fly half Nicolas Sanchez plucking an intercept score from opposite number Sam Costelow to take Argentina out of sight. Ireland or New Zealand await in the World Cup semi-finals - the challenge is mighty but Los Pumas live to fight another day; Wales are going home.
Argentina scrap their way to semi-finals as Wales come up short
Wales 17-29 Argentina: Nicolas Sanchez’s intercept try proved decisive as Los Pumas edged a brutal battle in Marseille
Post match press conference with Warren Gatland
Gatland on Dan Biggar: “He’s been a great servant to Welsh rugby, including high and lows.
“For a youngster to come in and mature the way he has has been special.
“It’s his decision [to retire from international rugby] and we won’t have Gareth Anscombe but we think Sam Costelow will be a bit special as he grows.
“Dan is so competitive, wants to win and wears his heart on his sleeve. He has brought that to this team.”
Post match press conference with Warren Gatland
More from Gatland: “We got 10-0 up but the change of referee didn’t help. That was a disruption.
“We gave away soft penalties and allowed them to get the scoreboard ticking over and back into the match. It will be interesting to see the feedback on that [Petti] challenge. I thought it was at least a penalty.
“I also thought Dillon Lewis was on the ball before they scored. Those big moments can swing things in big matches.”
Post match press conference with Warren Gatland
Wales coach, Warren Gatland, is taking questions at a post-match press conference alongside captain Jac Morgan. Gatland said: “We’re incredibly disappointed. Argentina are incredibly tough and physical and stayed in the fight.
“That game could have gone either way. We were not at our best but still could have won.”
Morgan added: “We’re gutted but full credit to Argentina they took their chances well.”
Wales captain Jac Morgan says he is devastated after loss
“At the end of the first half our discipline and a couple of errors let us down, allowed them to come into our half and they captialised.
“We knew they were going to be a physical team, they always are.
“A couple of errors and our dicipline let us down and let them have more tempo and possession on that ball. In all fairness, they captialised.
“Devastated for the boys.”
Emiliano Boffelli’s reaction
Argentinian winger Emiliano Boffelli was awarded the player of the match award and he gave his reaction to S4C after the quarter-final saying:
“We knew it was going to be a difficult game but we won the match and I’m very happy for the team.
“We needed to keep going at half time because we were doing well and we knew at some point the game would open for us.”
Wales co-captain Dewi Lake speaking to S4C:
“The emotions are running high at the moment, we’re gutted as a group from missing out on the final four, all the work we’ve done over the past four months to get to this point.
“At the start of the campaign not many people thought we’d get out of the group and we came into this game as favourites and full credit to Argentina they left everything out there as did we but our accuracy let us down a bit.
“You’re never going to find the words to describe the emotions, but we’ll learn from this, we’re a young group and we’ll be here again and be better.
“We’ve played for 80 minutes and it wasn’t to be but no complaints from me, everyone left everything out there and fair play to Argentina.”
Post-match reaction from Warren Gatland
Wales’ head coach, Warren Gatland, looked dejected as he spoke to ITV following his team’s exit from the Rugby World Cup. He explained where he believed Argentina won the game saying:
"Couple of penalties before half-time, it allowed them to get back into the game. I don't want to take anything away from Argentina, they're tough and hung in the fight, they took their opportunities.
“It was a tough Test match, both sides went hard at each other. They desrve credit for hanging in there.
"Possibly played a bit too much rugby at half-way, we had turnovers, perhaps we needed to squeeze them and play more territory, we'll go back and look at that, we've made progress with this side in a short space of time. The learning can help us kick on.
"We'll lose some experience, but we have some exciting players coming through, we'll put the disappointment behind us.
"Then we'll prepare for the Six Nations."
FT Wales 17-29 Argentina
Was this a case of over-confidence from Wales? That’s doubtful but will be part of the discussion as this World Cup defeat is dissected.
Errors and mistakes cost them today. Ball-handling errors, mistimed tackles a frantic nature to the play all fed into this loss. Wales can be proud of how far they’ve come but they were the second best side today.
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