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 all 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.
