On the penultimate day of pool action, Scotland knew an unlikely victory by at least eight points could see them advance to the knockout stages.

Any hope of victory was quashed early on as Ireland got off to a blistering start at the Stade de France by scoring their first try through James Lowe inside a minute.

A brace from Hugo Keenan and a further try from Iain Henderson secured Ireland the bonus point before the break as they opened a 26-0 lead.

Dan Sheehan and Garry Ringrose scored further tries after the break as Ireland began to run away with the match, before Scotland restored some pride with tries from Ewan Ashman and Ali Price.

The result confirms the first two quarter-final match-ups with South Africa, who finished second in Pool B, up against hosts and Pool A winners France, while Ireland take on New Zealand, who ended second in Pool A.

In Pool D, England, who had already qualified before their final match, played at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille, were given a scare before edging past Samoa 18-17.

Ollie Chessum gave England the lead with a try inside the first ten minutes, but Samoa bounced back taking an interval advantage thanks to a brace of tries from Nigel Ah-Wong.

England clinched victory with seven minutes remaining as quick thinking from Danny Care saw him score a try from a scrum, which Owen Farrell, who became England’s leading Test points scorer during the game, converted to give the Pool D winners a narrow win.

The day’s opening game saw Wales top Pool C with an emphatic 43-19 win against Georgia at the Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes.

Two tries inside the first 25 minutes from Tomas Francis and Liam Williams appeared to put Wales on course for a comfortable win, but already eliminated Georgia pegged them back before the break through a try by Merab Sharikadze.

Louis Rees-Zammit scored his first of three tries just after the restart, before Georgia came back to within a score after tries by Vano Karkadze and Davit Niniashvili in a three-minute spell.

Two more tries for Rees-Zammit and a last-minute try from George North added gloss to the scoreline for a Wales side, who will face the runners-up in Pool D in the quarter-finals.

That position will go to the winner of tomorrow’s match between Japan and Argentina, also being held in Nantes.

Australia currently occupy second spot in Pool C behind Wales, but will be overtaken by Fiji if as expected they beat Portugal in Toulouse.

Tomorrow’s other pool game is between two sides playing for pride and a first win of the tournament, when Tonga face Romania in Pool B in Lille.