Wales knocked out of Rugby World Cup after defeat to Argentina

Wales have been knocked out of the Rugby World Cup by Argentina after losing the quarter-final 29-17 in Marseille.

Warren Gatland's side controlled much of the opening half hour but missed a number of opportunities to drive home their ascendency.

A dramatic game turned on a decision by referee Karl Dickson not to punish a high clearout on Wales centre Nick Tompkins and Argentina showed a clinical edge to put Wales away in the second half.

Los Pumas had an early chance to go ahead through the boot of Emiliano Boffelli but the winger dragged a relatively straightforward penalty wide of the posts.

A cagey 15 minutes ensued before Wales broke the deadlock. George North ran a lovely inside line off Dan Biggar to break the line. His offload found Gareth Davies and Biggar was on hand to score under the posts. The fly-half knocked over the conversion and Wales led 7-0.

After the try, referee Jaco Peyper had to leave the field with an injury. Assistant Karl Dickson took over the whistle after a brief break in play.

Midway through the first half, Biggar clipped over another three points from just inside the Argentina 10-metre line to stretch out an early 10-0 lead.

Biggar then missed a long-range shot at goal around the half hour mark after some good work from captain Jac Morgan at the breakdown.

Wales had dominated territory in the first half and should have been further ahead, but three lost lineouts undermined their efforts.

After the latest missed opportunity, Welsh indiscipline then gave Los Pumas field position, which resulted in a Boffelli penalty.

And there was time for him to knock over another just before half time when Josh Adams was penalised for tackle off the ball.

Wales led 10-6 at the break but Gatland would have been fuming with the number of missed opportunities.

Hooker Ryan Elias was replaced by Dewi Lake at the break after the wayward lineouts but Argentina trimmed the lead to one point with another simple Boffelli penalty early in the second half.

By the 50th minute, Wales were behind. Lake was penalised for holding on just inside the Argentina half and Boffelli knocked over the penalty from 55 metres to put his side in front.

Wales needed a big moment and it came from replacement Tomos Williams in the 57th minute. He sniped around the fringe of a ruck on Argentina's 22 and dived under the sticks untouched, with Biggar chipping over the conversion as his side regained the lead.

Then came a huge call. Tompkins took a shoulder to the face at a maul that was collapsing. But referee Dickson deemed there was no foul play, much to the displeasure of red jerseys across the field.

Tompkins was forced off for a HIA as Argentina continued to attack the Welsh line.

Eventually they crossed it through Joel Scalvi. Boffelli's conversion put Los Pumas back in front with 10 minutes remaining.

Rio Dyer got the stadium on its feet with minutes remaining. His break gave Louis Rees-Zammit an outside chance of getting over in the corner but his diving effort was not quite enough as he failed to get the grounding.

Then came the final blow.

With Wales needing a try, Sam Costelow's pass was picked off by Nicolas Sanchez, who ran 50 metres to score under the posts, ensuring Wales were heading home and not to Paris.

A late penalty from the replacement fly-half rubbed salt into Wales' wounds.

The winners of the match in Marseille will face the winners of Ireland v New Zealand, which is taking place in Paris this evening.

Wales: Liam Williams; Louis Rees-Zammit, George North, Nick Tompkins, Josh Adams; Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies; Gareth Thomas, Ryan Elias, Tomas Francis; Will Rowlands, Adam Beard; Jac Morgan (C), Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright.

Reps: Dewi Lake, Corey Domachowski, Dillon Lewis, Dafydd Jenkins, Christ Tshiunza, Tomos Williams, Sam Costelow, Rio Dyer.

Argentina: Juan Cruz Mallia; Emiliano Boffelli, Lucio Cinti, Santiago Chocobares, Mateo Carreras; Santiago Carreras, Tomas Cubelli; Thomas Gallo, Julian Montoya (C), Francisco Gómez Kodela, Guido Petti, Tomas Lavanini; Juan Martin Gonzalez, Marcos Kremer, Facundo Isa.

Reps: Agustín Creevy, Joel Sclavi, Eduardo Bello, Matias Alemanno, Rodrigo Bruni, Lautaro Bazan Velez, Nicolas Sanchez, Matías Moroni.