Wales vs France, Rugby World Cup 2019 LIVE result: Latest reaction from today's quarter-final
Ross Moriarty scored the winning try as Wales exploited their numerical superiority to rally for a 20-19 victory over France in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals on Sunday after French lock Sebastien Vahaamahina had been shown a red card.
In an echo of the semi-final meeting between the two nations in 2011 when France won after Sam Warburton was sent off, the Six Nations champions overhauled a nine-point deficit after Vahaamahina was dismissed for foul play in the 49th minute.
Replacement loose forward Moriarty crossed in the 74th minute to give Wales an eighth win in their last nine meetings with France and set up a semi-final against hosts Japan or South Africa, who play in Tokyo later on Sunday.
France had threatened to stage another sensational World Cup upset after a brilliant first-half display in which they scored three tries, including two in the first eight minutes, to lead 19-10 at the break.
Welcome to The Independent's live coverage of the Rugby World Cup, with today's action kicking off with the third quarter-final clash of the weekend as Wales take on Six Nations rivals France at Oita Stadium.
After England and New Zealand booked their place in the last four, today its up to Wales, France, South Africa and Japan to fight it out for the two remaining semi-final berths, beginning with this clash between the Pool D winners and Pool C runners up.
Both teams have made it to the last eight without losing a game, with Wales impressively beating Australia to win the pool and France just holding on against Argentina and Tonga before seeing their showdown game against England cancelled due to Typhoon Hagibis.
It means that France have not played a game for two weeks, while Wales safely negotiated their way past Uruguay last Sunday despite resting the bulk of their starting XV today.
Kick-off is at 8:15am BST, and we'll bring you all the build-up to the third quarter-final of the weekend.
Wales centre Jonathan Davies has been ruled out of the match an hour before kick-off.
Davies has aggravated the knee injury that he suffered in the victory over Fiji 11 days ago, and as a result he has been withdrawn from the squad and replaced at outside centre by Owen Watkin. Leigh Halfpenny, initially left out of the squad, is added to the bench, but that's a huge blow for Wales's physical approach out wide.
The big stories continue to roll in ahead of kick-off, with Michael Cheika confirming his intention to quit as Australia coach following their World Cup exit yesterday.
So after all the drama of the last few minutes, here's the final confirmed teams for today's encounter, taking into account the late withdrawal of Jonathan Davies.
Wales: Liam Williams; George North, Owen Watkin, Hadleigh Parkes, Josh Adams; Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies; Wyn Jones, Ken Owens, Tomas Francis; Jake Ball, Alun Wyn Jones; Aaron Wainwright, Justin Tipuric, Josh Navidi.
Replacements: Elliot Dee, Rhys Carre, Dillon Lewis, Adam Beard, Ross Moriarty, Tomos Williams, Rhys Patchell, Leigh Halfpenny.
France: Maxime Medard; Damian Penaud, Virimi Vakatawa, Gael Fickou, Yoann Huget; Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont; Jefferson Poirot, Guilhem Guirado, Rabah Slimani; Bernard le Roux, Sebastien Vahaamahina; Wenceslas Lauret, Charles Ollivon, Gregory Alldritt.
Replacements: Camille Chat, Cyril Baille, Emerick Setiano, Paul Gabrillagues, Louis Picamoles, Baptiste Serin, Camille Lopez, Vincent Rattez.
Warren Gatland has spoken to TV to give a little more detail on the absence of Jonathan Davies: “Owen Watkin is going to be a player for the future and we’ve got a lot of faith in him. Owen took a lot of time in training this week.
"We thought he (Davies) might struggle a little bit and unfortunately he hasn’t been able to get through.”
The teams head in from their warm ups at the same time as the stands around them slowly fill up. Pockets of red and blue can be seen everywhere you look, with thousands travelling over from Europe to support their sides. With one northern hemisphere nation already through to the last four in England, who will join them from this encounter?
It's the French fans who are making significantly more noise as the teams are read out, with the rowdy Les Bleus faithful also bringing the familiar noise of airhorns to fill the air inside the Oita Stadium.
A lovely moment at the end of La Marseillaise as Guirado embraces the French mascot in an emotional hug. Make no mistake, the French are well up for this, and with Wales suffering a disrupted build-up to the match, could it be a blue day in Oita?
1 mins: The kick-off is knocked on immediately by the French No 8 Alldritt and Wales get an early chance to attack. However, Ollivon makes an emphatic tackle on Parkes in midfield and Wales are sent in reverse, forcing Biggar to put up a high one, and Medard takes the mark inside his 22.
4 mins: Biggar tries a chip and chase but Dupont is there to sweep up, and although Biggar gets his hands on him the scrum-half offloads to Ntamack. Hs kick ahead is charged down, but the loose ball is hacked on by the No 10 and he eventually hacks on for Huget and North to chase. North just wins the race and Wales do well to get numbers back to seal the ball and kick clear. They fail to find touch though, and Fickou runs it back with gusto. The whip the ball wide and Penaud makes a half-break, only for his offload to miss out Vakatawa who would've gone over.
Wales win the ball back and Biggar clears, but it's a poor touch finder and France have a five-metre lineout.
6 mins: The lineout is safely secured by French hands, and they elect fort he driving maul to try and shove themselves over. Guirado decides to break away from the base, and although he's stopped on the line, Sebastien Vaahamahina picks and goes to score the opening points of the game. Ntamack's conversion strikes the upright and deflects away, but France have an early lead. 0-5
8 mins: What a try! Dupont and Ntamack try to get Fickou running at the line, but the centre slips and France have to retreat to secure the ball. However, the slow ball causes them no problems at all, as Ntamack goes left again to Vakatawa. His inside step beats the first man and he offloads to Ntamack on his inside shoulder, who breaks free. Dupont is there to support, and the nine releases Charles Ollivon to gallop over for one of the tries of the tournament! Ntamack converts and Wales are in big trouble early here! 0-12
12 mins: Huget puts in a big tackle on Parkes and it forces North to be dragged into touch, giving France possession back. But after Fickou takes a crash ball up off the lineout, Guirado loses possession in contact with Ball, Aaron Wainwright regathers and goes all the way from 40m out! Biggar adds the conversion, and that's the response Wales desperately needed! 7-12
Wales vs France takes place on Sunday 20 October at Oita Stadium.
What time does it start?
The quarter-final kicks off at 4:15pm Japan Standard Time, which is 8:15am BST.
Where can I watch it?
The match will be shown live on ITV and the ITV Hub online from 7:30am BST. Highlights will be shown on ITV4 from 7pm.
Teams
Wales: Liam Williams, George North, Jonathan Davies, Hadleigh Parkes, Josh Adams, Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies, Wyn Jones, Ken Owens, Tomas Francis, Jake Ball, Alun Wyn Jones (c), Aaron Wainwright, Justin Tipuric, Josh Navidi.
Replacements: Elliot Dee, Rhys Carre, Dillon Lewis, Adam Beard, Ross Moriarty, Tomos Williams, Rhys Patchell, Owen Watkin.
France: Maxime Medard, Damian Penaud, Virimi Vakatawa, Gael Fickou, Yoann Huget, Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont, Jefferson Poirot, Guilhem Guirado (c), Rabah Slimani, Bernard le Roux, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Wenceslas Lauret, Charles Ollivon, Gregory Alldritt.
Replacements: Camille Chat, Cyril Baille, Emerick Setiano, Paul Gabrillagues, Louis Picamoles, Baptiste Serin, Camille Lopez, Vincent Rattez.
Odds
Wales to win: 2/5
France to win: 11/4
Draw: 30/1
Prediction
Wales 25-10 France: Wales appear to have all of their big guns fully fit for the knockout clash, and if they can reach the levels that they achieved against Australia in the pool stage, they should reach the semi-finals for the third time in their history.
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