Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw was aggrieved by the late penalty which cost his side victory against Australia in the World Cup quarter-final.

The Wallabies won a Twickenham nail-biter 35-34 after Bernard Foley's kick in the last minute and will face Argentina in the semi-final.

The penalty came when a botched Scottish line-out saw the ball knocked forward and it ended up in the hands of offside Scottish forward Jon Welsh - but replays indicated a touch in between from Australia's Nick Phipps, meaning a scrum rather than a penalty may have been sufficient.

Laidlaw said: "They got the TMO for everything else, it's such a big decision - why would you not get the TMO for that?"

Coach Vern Cotter added: "I'll need to have another look at it but it's an important decision.

"I'll let other people analyse it and I'll have another look in a quiet moment, without the emotion, and I'll analyse it then."

Assessing the defeat as a whole, an emotional Cotter added: "It's pretty tough.

"The guys played very well, they never let go and fought the whole way, and it's fine margins isn't it?

"They put this team, who were favourites for the tournament, under pressure. This will make them better and more confident.

"They did believe throughout the game - and we nearly got there."

Foley's kick was all the more impressive given he had converted only two of Australia's five tries - two from Drew Mitchell and one apiece from Adam Ashley-Cooper, Michael Hooper and Tevita Kuridrani.

Peter Horne scored through a gap at a ruck for Scotland, Finn Russell put Tommy Seymour over after charging down a Foley kick and Mark Bennett's interception score looked to have won the game until the late drama.

Australia coach Michael Cheika bemoaned the nature of those three tries but was in no doubt about the penalty decision at the death. "It's a penalty and that's the way it works," he said.

"We gave away a try on a charge-down, and an intercept - and that one through the ruck wasn't good, we've got to block that area. "All credit to Scotland, it was a great game and we just had to get through it somehow.

"We got the job done, we got five tries and we'll enjoy moving on."