Rugby World Cup 2015: Australia win sends Wales into quarters

Owen Farrell's late sin-binning saw England finish the defeat to Australia with 14 men

Wales qualified for the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals thanks to Australia's 33-13 win over England on Saturday.

England had already lost to Wales the previous week and the hosts crashed out after losing to their other main Group A rivals at Twickenham.

Wales and Australia meet on Saturday, 10 October in a match which will decide which side tops the pool.

The runners up will likely face South Africa from Group B in the quarters after their 34-16 win over Scotland.

Either Scotland or Japan are likely to finish runners-up in Group B and play the winners between Wales and the Wallabies in the first knock-out stage.

Wales are unbeaten in the pool after seeing off Fiji 23-13 in an attritional Test in Cardiff on Thursday, having beaten Uruguay in their opening match.

Warren Gatland's side had to play Fiji after a five-day turnaround from their England victory, but will have had nine days rest by the time they play Australia.

Gwyn Jones, former Wales captain:

"We've done what we had to do, beat England at Twickenham, Fiji and Uruguay at home and... we've survived the pool of death. What more could you ask?

"England have such an envious record at Twickenham, particularly against Australia more than anyone else, and with all the resources the Rugby Football Union has got to hand, the player numbers, they really should be one of the best teams in the world but they underachieve year after year.

"Australia's win was by far was the best performance by any team in the World Cup so far, New Zealand included. To beat England by 20 points at Twickenham in such a big game really stands Australia in an excellent position for the rest of the tournament.

"With a scrum and a forward platform in place, everyone knows Australia's backline is deadly.

"They are a dangerous side and when Wales play them next week we'll have an awful lot to contend with."

Martyn Williams, 104 cap ex-Wales and Lions flanker

"What an unbelievable effort it's been from Wales, with all the adversity they've had all summer, with all the injuries... the five-day turnaround against Fiji, they just deserve all the credit in the world.

"Although qualifying for the quarter-finals is just step one, for now - for the next couple of days - they just deserve to take that in because it was called the pool of death for a reason, because you had four very, very good sides in there.

"That group of players have done it before, got to the semi-final last time against the odds in 2011, so they'll want to go one step at a time.

"To make that journey a little bit easier they're going to have to turn over Australia next.

"Even though Japan caused that upset against South Africa, you knew to get that 'easier' route through you'd have to win this group and avoid the Springboks, and that means Wales have got to beat Australia next week.

"After Australia's performance tonight that's going to be very, very tough, but this is a special group of Welsh players, a special coaching group and you never write this group off.

"They've still got a core of world-class players in that Wales team and if things go their way next week they might be able to pull off a miraculous win like they did last week [against England].

"That Australian team tonight was a complete performance, in the tight, in the loose, in the skills they showed it was fantastic. To do that to England was a special performance.

"At least Wales will be well rested up, they've got nine days off after the Fiji game and they've got to patch themselves up.

"There's nothing to lose now in many ways either - total underdogs against Australia next week and go out and give it a go."