Ireland 20 Argentina 43 – #RWC2015 Facts & Figures
We take a look at some of the key facts and figures from Ireland’s 43-20 Rugby World Cup quarter-final loss to Argentina at the Millennium Stadium.
– Argentina recorded their biggest ever win against Ireland, eclipsing the 16-0 victory in Buenos Aires on June 2, 2007
– Argentina’s 43 points was the most they have scored against a tier 1 nation outside of Argentina, and the third most in their history (only bettered by 50 points against Wales in 2004 and 45 against Wales in 2006)
– Argentina’s best previous score in a knockout match at the RWC was the 34 they managed against France in the bronze final in RWC 2007
– Juan Imhoff scored his 15th try in Test rugby and sixth in RWCs. Imhoff became the joint-highest try scorer in the calendar year 2015 with eight tries, level with Julian Savea (New Zealand) and Anthony Watson (England)
– Nicolas Sanchez scored 23 points and became RWC 2015’s leading points scorer so far with 74 in total
– Sanchez’s total is the highest individual score by a player in a knockout match since 2003 when England’s Jonny Wilkinson got 24 in a 24-7 win against France
– Sanchez is the 18th player in RWC history to break the 70-point barrier in one tournament. He is also the first since South Africa’s Percy Montgomery and Felipe Contepomi of Argentina did it in 2007
– Sanchez also equalled the best performance by an Argentina player against Ireland in any Test, which was Gonzalo Quesada’s 23 points in a 28-24 win in 1999
– Ireland flanker Jordi Murphy scored his first ever test try and Luke Fitzgerald, on as a replacement for the injured Tommy Bowe, scored his first RWC try
– Ian Madigan scored 10 points and became Ireland’s leading points scorer at RWC 2015 with 38 in total
– Argentina’s first half points tally of 20 equalled their best knockout match first-half total (20-27 v France in the RWC 1999 quarter-final which finished 47-26 to France)
– Argentina have now been involved in three of the four highest-scoring first halves in the knockout stage at all RWCs: FRA 27-20 ARG (47) 1999 QF; NZL 29-13 FRA (42) 2015 QF; RSA 24-6 ARG (30) 2007 SF; IRE 10-20 ARG (30) 2015 QF
– Ramiro Herrera’s yellow card was the first for Argentina against Ireland in a RWC since they received two in the 1999 match