Ireland join last eight as Samoa make 2015
Ireland became the eighth and final team to book their spot in the quarter-finals of Rugby World Cup 2011 after a 36-6 defeat of Italy at Dunedin's Otago Stadium on Sunday.
Ireland finished top of Pool C with 17 points and qualify with second-placed Australia (15 points) at the expense of Italy (10), USA (4) and Russia (1).
Other pool winners include host nation New Zealand, England and defending champions South Africa.
The finishing positions of the final eight teams and the quarter-finals draw means a northern hemisphere team cannot meet a southern hemisphere team until the final on 23 October.
The RWC 2011 quarter-finals fixtures are:
Saturday, 8 October
18:00 - Ireland (Winners Pool C) v Wales (Runners-up Pool D) at Wellington Regional Stadium
20:30 - England (Winners Pool B) v France (Runners-up Pool A) at Eden Park, Auckland
Sunday, 9 October
18:00 - South Africa (Winners Pool D) v Australia (Runners-up Pool C) at Wellington Regional Stadium
20:30 - New Zealand (Winners Pool A) v Argentina (Runners-up Pool B) at Eden Park, Auckland
Samoa aboard for England 2015
Samoa have replaced Fiji as an automatic qualifier for the eighth edition of Rugby World Cup to be held in England in 2015 after the completion of the RWC 2011 pool phase.
After finishing fourth in Pool D, Fiji will now have to go through regional qualifying to qualify for RWC 2015. The Flying Fijians finished with 5 points, well behind Pool D winners South Africa (18) and runners-up Wales (15) but ahead of the only team they defeated, Namibia, who finished with no tournament points.
The automatic qualifers by region are:
Asia: None
Americas: Argentina (Runners-up Pool B)
Africa: South Africa (Winners Pool D)
Europe: England (Winners Pool B), France (Runners-up Pool A), Ireland (Winners Pool C), Italy (3rd in Pool C), Scotland (3rd in Pool B) and Wales (Runners-up Pool D)
Oceania: Australia (Runners-up Pool C), New Zealand (Winners Pool A), Samoa (3rd in Pool D) and Tonga (3rd in Pool A).