Argentina beats Tonga 45-16 to move closer to RWC quarters

Maradona, who inspired his nation to victory at the Football World Cup in 1986, was up and out of his seat, waving his scarf around after Argentina overcame a sluggish start to ease to their second win in the group.

Creevy said: “He said the whole of Argentina was dreaming with us and everyone was behind us and supporting us”.

“It’s going to be an all-out battle, all-out war”.

“We are just dying to get out on the field and get our howling on”.

Fly-half Nicolas Sanchez’s kicking was deadly and he also scored a late try as Juan Imhoff became his country’s record World Cup try-scorer during a first-half blitz.

Argentina make seven changes from the XV that beat Georgia 54-9.

But the turning point came with 16 minutes remaining as Sanchez added a try to his tally, cutting inside after the Pumas put a few width on the ball.

The Pumas are now second in Pool C, four points behind leaders and reigning world champions New Zealand, who have already qualified.

“It was something different and I could never imagine he would have been there with”.

Stuart Lancaster’s men crashed out of the Rugby World Cup at the hands of Australia last night and, before you know it, Maradona is apparently a rugby union fan.

Only an unlikely Tonga four-try win over the All Blacks next weekend can stop Argentina going into the last eight.

“We believed we were in the game until the 68th minute but we let ourselves down with poor control and discipline”. And Santiago Cordero’s stunning surge down the right wing set up Imhoff to score on the opposite flank in a devastating three-minute spell in a breathlessly brilliant first half.

Argentina flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez thinks the Pumas need to keep the game tight and avoid being drawn into the “disorder” on which Tonga thrive.

“We’re in the quarter-finals so that’s great for us”, Ireland captain Paul O’Connell said.

“The idea is to play at the same level for 80 minutes”.

Tongans getting turned over – Playing at pace the Tongan attackers like Vunga Lilo, Joe Tuineau and Telusa Veainu looked threatening, but whenever they got caught on their own the Pumas had plenty of space to counter-attack.

It kept the Sea Eagles in touch but they still struggled against the threat of Imhoff and Tuculet and the duo wasted a fine chance for a third try when Tuculet opted to kick for his team-mate and the ball bounced out of play.