Argentina 33 Japan 12

Points machine Gonzalo Quesada produced another superb kicking display to boot Argentina into the World Cup knockout stages in a 33-12 win over Japan at the Millennium Stadium.

The result of the final match of the group stages means that Wales win Group D and will play Australia in the quarter-finals in Cardiff.

The Argentinians, as the best third-placed team in the five groups, will play Ireland in Lens, in the quarter-final play-offs on Wednesday.

Samoa will play Scotland at Murrayfield on the same day after finishing second in the group.

Fly-half Gonzalo Quesada, the World Cup's leading points scorer, struck seven penalties while Agustin Pichot and Diego Albanese scored tries to see off the Japanese who leave the World Cup without a win.

Quesada has now scored 66 of his team's 83 points in the competition after kicking 18 points in the 23-18 defeat to Wales and 27 in the 32-16 win over Samoa.

The match boiled down to a battle of the the goalkickers with Quesada getting the better of his opposite man Keija Hirose who kicked all four of his attempts at goal.

Quesada made amends for an earlier miss when he put the Pumas 6-0 in with two penalties in quick succession.

Hirose reduced the deficit with a penalty before Argentinian scrum-half Pichot burst down the blindside for a superb try in the left corner.

Quesada missed a difficult conversion from the touchline but moments later he stretched the lead to 14-3 with his third penalty before Hirose hit back with his second.

Quesada soon added another three points but Japan, who won the last meeting between the countries, a 44-29 triumph in Tokyo last year, kept in contention when Hirose made it 17-9 just before half-time.

The pattern of tit-for-tat penalties continued after the break with the two goal-kickers both adding three points to their totals in the first five minutes.

Quesada, nicknmaed Speedy Gonzalez because of the lengthy time it takes him at kicks, put the Pumas 23-12 in front with his sixth successful kick from eight attempts before adding another.

Winger Diego Albanese went over for a try under the posts in injury time -- converted by Contepomi, who came on in the dying moments to replace Quesada -- to seal victory.

The Teams:

Argentina:  1 Omar Hasan Jalil, 2 Mario Ledesma Arocena, 3 Mauricio Reggiardo, 4 Alejandro Allub, 5 Pedro Sporleder, 6 Rolando Martin, 7 Santiago Phelan, 8 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 9 Agustin Pichot, 10 Gonzalo Quesada, 11 Diego Albanese, 12 Lisandro Arbizu (c), 13 Eduardo Simone, 14 Gonzalo Camardon, 15 Ignacio Corletto
Reserves:  Felipe Contepomi, Lucas Ostiglia, Miguel Ruiz
Unused:  Agustin Canalda, Nicolas Fernandez Miranda, Jose Orengo, Martin Scelzo

Japan:  1 Toshikazu Nakamichi, 2 Masahiro Kunda, 3 Kohei Oguchi, 4 Robert Gordon, 5 Hiroyuki Tanuma, 6 Naoya Okubo, 7 Greg Smith, 8 Jamie Joseph, 9 Graeme Bachop, 10 Keiji Hirose, 11 Daisuke Ohata, 12 Andrew McCormick (c), 13 Yukio Motoki, 14 Patiliai Tuidraki, 15 Tsutomu Matsuda
Reserves:  Shin Hasegawa, Takeomi Ito, Naoto Nakamura, Masaaki Sakata
Unused:  Terunori Masuho, Wataru Murata, Yoshihiko Sakuraba

Attendance:  47000
Referee:  Dickinson s

Points Scorers:

Argentina
Tries:  Albanese D.L. 1, Pichot A. 1
Conv:  Contepomi F. 1
Pen K.:  Quesada G. 7

Japan
Pen K.:  Hirose K. 4