SCOTLAND’s dream of a first Rugby World Cup semi-final in nearly quarter of a century was dashed at the death in their match against Australia at Twickenham yesterday after a controversial decision by referee Craig Joubert two minutes from time. The South African gave a penalty against Scots prop Jon Welsh for offside, discounting the fact that an Australian had handled the ball last, and Wallabies stand-off Bernard Foley kicked the three points to give his team a 35-34 win.

Australia go on to meet Argentina in the last four after the Pumas had earlier beaten Ireland 43-20. Scotland go home, but as a far better team than the one that began the World Cup a few weeks ago.

“Right at this moment it’s hard to take,” Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw said. “It’s a pretty unhappy dressing room. We were one kick away from the World Cup semi-finals and we should have been there.”

Joubert ran off the Twickenham pitch at the end - a highly unusual occurrence in rugby - leaving Laidlaw unable to question him further about the penalty. “I asked him on several occasions [before the penalty was taken] but he was taking his time to review it himself,” the scrum-half added. “He made a sharp exit after the game, that’s for sure. I never got a chance to speak to the referee as he was away that quick.”

Having said that, Laidlaw insisted that Scotland had to be self-critical, and that Australia deserved a lot of praise. “We’re not the type of people to blame other things. If we’d got things right in other moments then we wouldn’t have been in that situation.

“We don’t want to be the type of side which only comes close. I really don’t know what to say. We have a young side and we will only get better.

“Australia attacked us well and they’re a good team, so credit to them. We’re unbreakable at times and that’s the spirit we have. We’re a tight group and you could see that - but if we had been tighter at the end we would have won. It’s going to take days and weeks for us to get over this.”

Australia, who scored five tries in all, were down by a point at the break after Scotland had put in their best first half of the competition. The Wallabies regained the lead after the break, then when they stretched it to eight points it looked as if the game was over. But Mark Bennett hit back with an interception score to put Scotland two points up with two minutes to play - and an incredible victory was in sight. At least it was until Foley kept his nerve at the end to see his team home.

AUSTRALIA: Tries: Ashley-Cooper, Mitchell 2, Hooper, Kuridrani. Cons: Foley 2. Pens: Foley 2.

SCOTLAND: Tries: Horne, Seymour, Bennett. Cons: Laidlaw 2. Pens: Laidlaw 5.

Australia: K Beale; A Ashley-Cooper, T Kuridrani, M Giteau, D Mitchell; B Foley, W Genia (N Phipps 71); S Sio (J Slipper 51), S Moore (T Polota-Nau 62), S Kepu (G Holmes 54), K Douglas, R Simmons (D Mumm 66), S Fardy, M Hooper, B McCalman. Unused substitutes: S McMahon, M Toomua, Q Cooper.

Scotland: S Hogg; S Maitland, M Bennett, P Horne (R Vernon 71), T Seymour (S Lamont 63); F Russell, G Laidlaw; A Dickinson (G Reid 48), R Ford (F Brown 54), W Nel (J Welsh 76), R Gray, J Gray (T Swinson 67), B Cowan (J Strauss 67), J Hardie, D Denton. Unused substitute: H Pyrgos.

Referee: C Joubert (South Africa). Attendance: 77,110.