Rugby World Cup Results 2015: Sunday Scores, Final Tables, Knockout Fixtures

Ireland stole the show on Sunday in the Rugby World Cup 2015, as they produced an emphatic performance to dispose of France and avoid New Zealand in the quarter-finals.

Argentina kicked off the day by thrashing Namibia at the King Power Stadium in the final match of Pool C, cementing their place in the quarter-finals.

Italy then did a professional job on Romania in the second game of the day, as they secured their place in the 2019 World Cup with a 32-22 victory to take third place in Pool D.

Japan, already assured of third place in their group, ended their campaign on a high by seeing off USA and bringing the curtain down on an exciting group stage.

Here are the day's results:

Time (BST)	Home	Score	Away
Noon	Argentina	64-19	Namibia
2:30 p.m.	Italy	32-22	Romania
4:45 p.m.	France	9-24	Ireland
8 p.m.	USA	18-28	Japan

Here are the final standings in the groups, followed by the fixtures for the knockout stages and a recap of all the matches played on Sunday:

Pool A	Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Bonus	Points
Pool B	Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Bonus	Points
Pool C	Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Bonus	Points
Pool D	Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Bonus	Points
1	Australia*	4	4	0	0	141	35	1	17
2	Wales*	4	3	0	1	111	62	1	13
3	England	4	2	0	2	133	75	3	11
4	Fiji	4	1	0	3	84	101	1	5
5	Uruguay	4	0	0	4	30	226	0	0
1	South Africa*	4	3	0	1	176	56	4	16
2	Scotland*	4	3	0	1	136	93	2	14
3	Japan	4	3	0	1	98	100	0	12
4	Samoa	4	1	0	3	69	124	2	6
5	USA	4	0	0	4	50	156	0	0
1	New Zealand*	4	4	0	0	174	49	3	19
2	Argentina*	4	3	0	1	179	70	3	15
3	Georgia	4	2	0	2	53	123	0	8
4	Tonga	4	1	0	3	70	130	2	6
5	Namibia	4	0	0	4	70	174	1	1
1	Ireland*	4	4	0	0	134	35	2	18
2	France*	4	3	0	1	120	63	2	14
3	Italy	4	2	0	2	74	88	1	9
4	Romania	4	1	0	3	50	129	0	4
5	Canada	4	0	0	4	58	131	2	2

Date	Home	vs.	Away	Venue
17 October	South Africa	vs.	Wales	Twickenham
17 October	New Zealand	vs.	France	Millennium Stadium
18 October	Ireland	vs.	Argentina	Millennium Stadium
18 October	Australia	vs.	Scotland	Twickenham

France 9-24 Ireland

Tim Ireland/Associated Press

Ireland produced a stunning display to beat France 24-9 on Sunday afternoon, as they pipped their French counterparts to top spot in Pool D.

The Six Nations champions will now face Argentina in the quarter-finals, having successfully sidestepped New Zealand courtesy of the victory.

In an end-to-end first half, the Irish struggled to cement their dominance on the match, with the teams exchanging penalty scores up until the halfway mark.

However, Ireland lost both Jonny Sexton and Paul O’Connell through injury in the opening period, and although they held a 9-6 lead, they were undoubtedly looking vulnerable without their main men.

Nothing of the sort transpired, though, as Rob Kearney’s 49th-minute try gave Ireland the dominance that they deserved.

Morgan Parra reduced arrears with a penalty, but the six-point deficit was as good as it got for the French.

Conor Murray then went over with just nine minutes remaining, before Ian Madigan put the cherry on top of the performance with a late penalty.

The 24-9 scoreline was nothing more than Ireland deserved, and they’ll go into the clash with Argentina full of confidence of progressing to the last four.

Argentina 64-19 Namibia

Rui Vieira/Associated Press

Argentina scored nine tries as they dominated for the majority of their match with Namibia.

Juan Martin Hernandez opened the scoring as he went over after just seven minutes. Johannes Tromp replied for Namibia to hint the match could be a surprisingly close one. However, two more tries in five minutes for Matias Moroni and Horacio Agulla quickly ended those hopes.

Facundo Isa and Lucas Noguera Paz added two more before half-time.

J.C. Greyling got the Namibians off to a good start in the second half with a second try for his side, but Matias Alemanno quickly restored Argentina's 29-point lead. Leonardo Senatore, Julian Montoya and Tomas Cubelli completed the Pumas' superb attacking performance.

Namibia grabbed another late consolation as Eugene Jantjies went over. Johnny Redelinghuys was allowed to take the conversion as the last act of his international career, but the prop showed why he hadn't been given the opportunity before, per ITV Rugby:

Argentina will head into the knockout stages in confident mood, though they will need to be wary of the drops in concentration that allowed Namibia to score three tries.

Italy 32-22 Romania

GLYN KIRK/Getty Images

Leonardo Sarto got Italy on the board within nine minutes as they romped to victory over Romania. A Tommaso Allan penalty on the 15-minute mark cemented their early dominance.

Allan was then on conversion duty as Edoardo Gori dotted down, before the fly-half himself found his way to the try line just before the interval to leave the score at 22-3.

Alessandro Zanni scored a try just after half-time to make it 29-3, yet the Romanians suddenly clicked and hit back with 15 minutes remaining.

Adrian Apostol crossed to reduce arrears, before Valentin Poparlan grabbed a try of his own to make the Italians sweat. Apostol added another moments later, making the score 32-22.

Still, Italy managed to run the clock down and proved too strong on the day. Their impressive performance will give them plenty of encouragement heading into February's Six Nations.

USA 18-28 Japan

Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Japan closed out their impressive Rugby World Cup 2015 campaign with a hard-fought victory over the USA on Sunday, ensuring they qualified for the 2019 tournament by coming third in Group B.

The Japanese sprung out of the traps in the first half, with Kotaro Matsushima scoring an early try to get them off the mark.

Yoshikazu Fujita also crossed the line in the opening 40 minutes, while Takudzwa Ngwenya went over for the USA to leave the score at 17-8 at the interval.

The second half was a lot closer, with the teams sharing a try apiece, but Japan got the four points that their rugby deserved.

As for the USA, four defeats out of four means they go home from the UK with Group B’s wooden spoon, while South Africa and Scotland progress to the quarter-finals.