Homer of England burst through Argentina’s defence before running the length of the field to score.

However, Homer did not go to ground and instead waited for the clock to go into the red.

Argentina’s coach allowed the unprecedented scenes to unfold by calling back players who made attempts to go towards Homer.

The Argentines, who led 19-0 and needed a win to progress, were down to six men at the time and the time wasting worked in their favour as it limited the time of England scoring more tries.

Any effort by the referee to get Homer to score earlier was simply ignored and the match ended 19-7.

There are questions whether the incident was in breach of law 9.7.d. where it states a player must not "waste time" and law 9.27 which says, "a player must not do anything that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship".

Canada will feel aggrieved as they had defeated Japan 40-14 in an earlier tie which saw them secure a record of two wins and a draw - enough to initially progress into the knockout stages.

To progress, England needed to lose by less than 16 points after claiming two victories yesterday.

Nevertheless, both England and Argentina fell short of their task in the quarter finals.

Samoa sent England home with a 26-24 triumph and Ireland continued their fine form with a 14-0 victory over the Argentines.

France and Fiji followed up their impressive Pool B forms by beating Australia and the United States 21-19, respectively.

The semi-finals are set to be held tomorrow with Ireland facing France and Samoa playing Fiji.

Overall standing leaders South Africa exited the competition in the pool phase.