2015 Rugby World Cup semi-final match review: Argentina v. Australia at London

2015 will go down in history as the Year of the Three Trans-Tasman World Cup Finals: after meeting at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March in fifty-over cricket’s showpiece event, and at Homebush in netball’s, Australia and New Zealand will face each other at Twickenham for the William Webb Ellis Trophy.

There was little doubt about the outcome of this semi-final, at least not from the moment in the second minute when Wallabies lock Rob Simmons intercepted a wayward Argentine pass and scored the first of four Australian tries. Five minutes later came the first of five successful penalty goal attempts for albiceleste five-eighth Nicolás Sánchez; like the Springboks the previous night, it seemed that a tryless Argentina would try to kick its way to victory.

Inside ten minutes, a swift backline move from the scrum ended with Adam Ashley-Cooper touching down: it was the first of a hat-trick of tries, two on the right wing and one on the left. After Bernard Foley hit his second conversion and Sánchez scored a penalty following a farcical series of scrum collapses, Australia led 14-6 when lock Tomás Lavanini was sin-binned for up-ending Israel Folau.

The ensuing period of Argentine short-handedness yielded one (unconverted) try for i gialloverdi, Ashley-Cooper’s second. Las Pumas goaled again from a penalty to narrow the margin to 19-9, but their late-in-the-half surge was repelled by some solid Australian defending.

Foley missed a penalty in the second minute of the second half, and a collapsed scrum two minutes later gave Sánchez another set shot, putting the South Americans within seven points. Foley and Sánchez then traded penalty goals, precipitated by various ruck- and maul-related infringements, before Foley fell short with a drop goal attempt in the sixty-first minute.

A tense period ensued, as the Wallabies fought to hang on to a one converted-try lead against an Argentine side more than capable of snatching an interception or powering through the defensive line. In the seventy-second minute, however, Ashley-Cooper put the result beyond doubt with his third try, thanks to a blistering cross-field run from Drew Mitchell. For the first time since that ill-fated night at Homebush in 2003, the Wallabies were into the World Cup final.

Argentina 15 – Australia 29

Tries: Rob Simmons (Aust.) 2’; Adam Ashley-Cooper (Aust.) 10’, 32’, 72’

Conversions: Bernard Foley (Aust.) 3/4

Penalty goals: Nicolás Sánchez (Arg.) 5/5; Bernard Foley (Aust.) 1/2