Russia secured their place in the winner takes all playoff by defeating Zimbabwe 23-15 in front of the home crowd in Krasnoyarsk.

Yuri Kushnarev made a third minute penalty before failing to add the extras to Igor Klyuchnikov's try, while a second try for Russia came in the 23rd minute when a break from Vasily Artemyev led to a period of pressure for Zimbabwe when wing Denis Simplikevich dived over in the corner to make it 13-0.

Zimbabwe's Guy Cronje then missed his first attempt at goal in the 27th minute but just two minutes later his team mate Lambert Groenewald charged through the defence to race away and dot down under the posts.

Cronje slotted the conversion but then missed a second penalty attempt before Russia wasted a chance to score on the stroke of half-time when Andrey Garbuzov charged across the pitch but instead of passing to Simplikevich got white-line fever and tried to go on his own.

He was penalised for holding on a metre from the line, while Cronje cut the deficit to 13-10 with a 48th-minute penalty.

Zimbabwe were given a glimmer of hope when referee Nigel Owens sent Russia's Andrei Igretsov to the sin-bin just before the hour mark, but replacement Lawrence Tambwera's resulting penalty hit the post and rebounded off his team mate's knee to safety.

Russia held firm despite being a man down and increased their lead with another Kushnarev penalty with six minutes to go, but Zimbabwe fought to the end and were rewarded when Tafadzwa Chitokwindo scored a final try.

Uruguay, meanwhile, gained their place in the qualifier after overcoming Hong Kong 28-3 in Montevideo.

Uruguay will now face Russia as both nations battle for the final spot at the 2015 Rugby World Cup ©IRB


Uruguay's Agustín Ormaechea gave his nation an early lead in the third minute but Hong Kong's Christopher McAdam put his team on the board 10 minutes later as the game became a forward battle.

By the end of an uneventful first half, the home side only lead 6-3 as Ormaechea kicked the second of his five penalties.

"I would have wanted a bigger difference going into the second half," explained Uruguayan coach Pablo Lemoine.

"But we knew that if we stuck to what we were aiming for we'd get there in the end."

Felipe Berchesi kicked a 50-metre penalty to open up the second half and when Hon Sum Wei was sin-binned for collapsing the scrum, Uruguay started to work on tiring Hong Kong.

Captain Nicholas Hewson was also yellow carded in the 67th minute for a professional foul and Hong Kong conceded 13 quick points, with Berchesi chasing a kick for his try and openside flanker Diego Magno crashing over in the same corner to secure the 28-3 win.

"We did not play very well, but we knew this game was a final for us and we played to win," admitted Uruguay's Alejo Corral.

"We must now start thinking about the series against Russia.

"We know Russia won't be in any way easy, we played against them earlier this year in the IRB Nations Cup so we will have to ensure we are up to our best standard."

The two teams will now face off in a two-leg repechage final - the dates for the fixtures will be announced shortly - for the right to join hosts England, Australia, Wales and Fiji in Pool A at next year's World Cup, which takes place from September 18 to October 31.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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