Argentina completed the World Cup semi-final line-up by seeing off a spirited Scotland challenge to triumph 19-13 at the Stade de France.

Much like Fiji earlier in the day, Scotland looked well and truly out of the match midway through the second-half before producing a stirring comeback that threatened to upset the odds.

But too many Scotland mistakes allowed Argentina to hold on and record their best ever World Cup performance. The Pumas will now face South Africa next Sunday.

Argentina looked confident from the outset with Juan Martin Hernandez attempting an ambitious drop goal with just one minute on the clock.

Both sides seemed to go into the match with the plan of kicking for territory which made for a disjointed game in the early stages, handling errors also not helping the flow of play.

It took 16 minutes before the first score was put on the board and perhaps surprisingly it was Dan Parks and not Chris Paterson who kicked the penalty that put Scotland three points ahead.

Parks, often called into action when a long-distance kick is required, stepped up the mark on the halfway line when Argentina were penalised for offside and calmly smacked the ball right in between the posts much to the delight of the crowd.

Scotland had a number of promising breaks visibly growing in confidence after taking the lead but were a little over-eager to keep the pressure on and lost out with a couple of forward passes and knock-ons.

It did not take long for Argentina to strike back either. After struggling in the early stages with the tactics from Scotland team varying markedly from that of either the French or the Irish, the Pumas had begun to string together a promising move when Hernandez was caught high and late by Nathan Hines.

Felipe Contepomi, a late addition to the starting line-up after being consigned to bed with flu earlier in the week, leapt at the opportunity to level the scores putting a comparatively straight forward kick right in the middle of the posts.

With both teams looking cagey, the likelihood of the first try coming from an error was increasing by the second. Simon Webster charged down an attempted Argentina clearance but could not follow it through with fullback Ignacio Corleto getting back just in time.

The Pumas, whose previous best performance in a World Cup was a quarter final appearance eight years ago in Wales, were handed a golden opportunity to get themselves in the lead for the first time when Rory Lamont was penalised for not releasing the ball and Contepomi put another three points on the board.

After get another kicking exchange Parks saw his attempted clearance charged down by number eight Longo Elia. Sean Lamont appeared to be winning the race to get back to the ball before the inspired Longo cut inside Lamont, picked the ball up off his laces and dived over the line.

The score was never in question, although it was referred to the Third Match Official just for good measure, and Contepomi added the conversion to give his side a 10 point advantage just before the interval.

A sloppy final few minutes from Argentina, who looked to have one foot in the dressing room already, allowed Scotland to get a confidence building second score when the Pumas were penalised for coming in from the side.

Paterson maintained his 100 percent kicking record of the tournament easily slotting over his 16th penalty before the final moments of the half descended into scrappy play and errors.

Despite securing the last score of the first half Scotland came out for the second on the back foot making a number of sloppy errors in the opening exchanges.

Indeed it was a Scotland error, the pack penalised for dragging down and Argentina maul, that allowed Contepomi an easy chance to re-establish their 10 point lead.

Scotland also had another long distance opportunity to get themselves off the mark in the second half but Parks, who himself had gone six from six in the earlier round of the tournament, badly mis-hit his attempt on goal skewing the ball well wide.

Hernandez, whose kicking had been only sporadically accurate in the first half, was beginning to look ominously confident as his clearance landed right in the corner. Although Argentina could not secure the try they were looking for from the line-out, the ball popped out to Hernandez who, having only kicked his first drop goal against Ireland a week ago, thumped the ball between the posts with minimal back swing.

Just as France found against New Zealand on Saturday, the key to the Scotland fightback was in the substitutions and Chris Cusiter, on for Mike Blair, provided much needed extra pace on the attack.

Scotland broke through Paterson and Sean Lamont but it was Cusiter at scrumhalf who spread the ball from the right wing to the left who created the opportunity before freeing himself up to take the ball over the line.

Paterson bounced the ball off the inside of the left post and through to posts for the conversion to get Scotland back within a converted try of Argentina's score.

Hernandez attempted another ill advised drop goal from 40 metres to settle Argentine nerves but missed well wide allowing Paterson a chance to rally his troops.

While Parks put in the kick of his career right into the Argentinean corner, the mistakes were just too many from Scotland, the line-out in particular failing to function well enough to keep possession and Argentina withstood a barrage of pressure in the final 10 minutes to book their place in the last four.

Pippa Davis / Eurosport