This article reprinted with permission of the author, Simon Poidevin.

It took until the very last of 40 pool stage games for the quarterfinalist to be confirmed in a match that had two winners and one loser.

Portugal heroically won their first game in a Rugby World Cup, defeating Fiji 24 to 23 in Toulouse. But Fiji gained a vital bonus point for losing by seven or fewer, thus advancing to a quarter-final against England. For the Wallabies, there would be no lottery win-style escape. After a week of waiting, they were put out of their misery, crashing out of the Rugby Union World Cup before the quarter-finals for the first time.

But for much of this match, the miracle was very much alive. Portugal were outstanding, defending like demons against one of the most potent attacks in world rugby. And attacking with flair, too. With 12 minutes to go they led 17-10, before Fiji kicked two penalties and crossed for a converted try to secure their passage.

But Portugal’s never-say-die attitude saw Rodrigo Marta score a brilliant try in the 77th minute, converted by Samuel Marques. Portugal hung-on in the last minutes and recorded a famous victory.

Fiji did what they had to do and now face a confident England in Marseille next Sunday in what is a clash of David and Goliath proportions.

But the Fijians have a lot of work to do. They were a shadow of the team that beat

England in a lead-up game and Australia a couple of weeks ago, and must revert to their full-blown attacking mindset to have any chance of progressing to a semi- final.

I can only imagine the roller-coaster of emotions in the Wallabies team room at Saint-Etienne as this game played out – it will be a long trip home for our young team and attacks on coach Eddie Jones are likely to escalate.

It is time to be constructive and find solutions, and everyone in Australian rugby needs to pull together to help deliver them. There’s no time to waste.

The rest of the weekend’s games were instructive for differing reasons.

New Zealand 73 – Uruguay 0

It took New Zealand 19 minutes to score their first points against a resilient Uruguay in front of a capacity crowd of 58,000 in Lyon.

Uruguay had a spectacular try disallowed after 12 minutes when flanker Manual Ardao stepped into touch as Anton Lienert-Brown pulled off a brilliant cover tackle.

But once Uruguay had been breached the flood gates opened. Damien McKenzie’s 19th minute try was the first of ten for the All Blacks in a 73-0 whitewash.

The All Blacks have been ruthless in putting Namibia, Italy and Uruguay to the sword over the last three weeks.

However, the downside is that their quarter-final opponents, Ireland, are battle hardened after consecutive tough games against Tonga, South Africa and Scotland. The match promises to be an epic.

France 60 – Italy 7

France scored their biggest victory ever against Italy, winning 60-7 in Lyon. Italian coach Kieran Crowley was proud of the effort of his team but conceded that the power teams of France, New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland are a whole dimension above the rest of the teams in the tournament.

France dominated the Italian scrum and lineout forcing 19 penalties. Matthieu Jalibert at 10 was brilliant for Les Bleus and Thomas Ramos was deadly with his kicking. It adds up to a warning to South Africa, their quarter-final opponents, who will also face a manic French crowd in Paris next Sunday.

Wales 43 – Georgia 19

Wales were very impressive against a tenacious Georgia, winning 43-19 in Nantes, after resting the majority of their top team for their final game in Pool C.

Third-string flyhalf Sam Costelow controlled the game beautifully for the Welsh, setting youngster Louis Rees-Zammit free to score a hat-trick of tries.

A huge sideline fracas saw a player from both teams handed a yellow card by French referee Mathieu Raynal.

England 18 – Samoa 17

Samoan head coach Seilala Mapusua made nine changes to his starting team that lost 28-22 against Japan and that dramatic move almost resulted in the biggest upset of the Rugby World Cup.

In the end Samoa lost 18–17 against England in Lille, bombing a try in the final two minutes that would have delivered a thoroughly deserved victory to the Pacific Islanders.

Lima Sopoaga, who played 16 games for the All Blacks from 2015-17, was one of those nine changes and was magical at flyhalf and accurate in his goal kicking.

England took the threat seriously and selected most of its top players, with George Ford playing flyhalf and Owen Farrell at 12.

The stadium erupted when Farrell failed to adhere to the 60-second shot clock and a penalty conversion was disallowed but that mistake did not stop Farrell becoming the greatest ever points scorer in English rugby. The escape means England will play Fiji in a quarter-final that few expect to deliver a tournament winner.

Ireland 36 – Scotland 14

Ireland defeated Scotland 36-14 in the final round of Pool B as Australian referee Nic Berry presided over a free-flowing game of two halves. Played at a heaving Stade de France, with the Irish component of the crowd drowning out the Scottish supporters, Ireland’s rugby renaissance proved far too much for a Scotland that had talked a big game in the lead-up but were ultimately no match for the classy men in green.

Ireland were outstanding in the first half, with James Lowe scoring a cracking backline try after just 63 seconds, with another three to follow, two of those to fullback Hugo Keenan from enterprising ball movement.

Scotland dominated run metres and carries in the first half but it was the aggression, accuracy and discipline of the Irish defence that stood out. The Scots were camped in the Irish red-zone in the opening 20 minutes but didn’t score a point. The Irish hit the sheds at half-time up 26 nil and with a valuable bonus point in the bank.

Early in the second half Scotland lost Ollie Smith to the sin-bin after he tripped Johnny Sexton, triggering a “Hulk Hogan” style melee!

Given the commanding lead, Irish coach Andy Farrell took the chance to rest key man Johnny Sexton five minutes into second half and bought his forward reserves on en masse with 31 minutes to go.

The All Blacks will deeply analyse what happened with these changes because the Scots scored two quick tries in the 64th and 65th minutes and got their pulse back. Ireland scored only one try in the second half.

Ireland will go into next Sunday’s quarter-final against the All Blacks looking to break a hoodoo of never progressing to a Rugby World Cup semi-final.

Expectations from their army of supporters and the Rugby World are high, given

their phenomenal win rate of 83 per cent under coach Andy Farrell and captain Johnny Sexton.

But the quality and experience across the All Black game day 23 is arguably superior to Ireland and despite being favoured by both supporters and the bookies, Ireland face their biggest challenge yet at the Stade de France next Saturday. It is shaping as one of the greatest quarter-finals in the history of the Rugby World Cup.

Argentina 39 – Japan 27

Rugby, when played well, is an amazing sport and this game had it all, beginning with a never-say-die attitude from two teams that just wanted to run until they dropped.

In the end Argentina swept into a quarter-final against Wales next Sunday in Marseille, beating Japan 39 to 27 in Nantes. The match delivered eight superb tries, three from Japan and five from Argentina, including a hat trick scored by Mateo Carreras, the smallest man on the Argentinian team.

For Japan, their biggest man Amato Fakatava scored one of the tries of the tournament with a 40-metre solo run including a scintillating chip and chase.

New Zealand referee Ben O’Keefe was brilliant, constantly communicating with players to save him going to the whistle – the final penalty count was a modest six against Japan and seven against Argentina.

Argentina looked a vastly different team to the one that suffered a big loss against England in round one – they are fit, fast and strong.

Argentina coach Michael Cheika’s long game appears to be working. He’s been here before – memorably taking the Wallabies to the 2015 World Cup final – and the Pumas won’t be intimidated by a quarter-final match-up against Wales in Marseille. Argentina has twice made the semi-finals, in 2003 and 2015, and are every chance of doing it again.