Australia made sure they still have a glimmer of hope to qualify for the 2023 Rugby World Cup playoffs, beating Portugal 34-14. Australia will watch the Round 5 match between Portugal and Fiji on Sunday, 08 October 2023, supporting Portugal to surprise.
Australia made a confident start and converted an early penalty by Ben Donaldson to lead 03-00 after just three minutes of play.
Not to be outdone, Portugal attacked from the kickoff, launching wave after wave of attacks on the Australian tryline. Eventually, Pedro Bettencourt scored in the corner to give Portugal a 07-03 lead after twelve minutes of play in the first half.
A try by Richard Arnold after eighteen minutes of play to put Australia back in the lead with 10-07. Australian captain David Porecki scored their second try from the back of a lineout maul. Angus Bell bulldozed his way over the Portuguese tryline scoring the Aussies' third try following the yellow card for a high tackle by centre Pedro Bettencourt.
Despite being restored to fifteen players, Portugal struggled to adapt to the pace and physicality of the Aussies attack. However, several errors on the attack prevented the Aussies from adding more points to the scoreboard. Australia led 24-07 at the halftime break.
Fraser McReight added his name to the scoresheet, scoring the Aussies' fourth and bonus point try after just seven minutes of play in the second half.
Australia was reduced to thirteen players with twenty minutes to play in the second half. Portugal attacked with intent and eventually scored their second try when Rafael Simões picked up the ball from the back of a dominant scrum. Australia still led 29-14 with ten minutes to play in the second half.
Australia struck back immediately when superstar winger Marika Koroibete bulldozed his way over the Portuguese tryline to extend their lead to 34-14, which was also the final score.
Scorers:
Australia: Tries: Richard Arnold, David Porecki, Angus Bell, Fraser McReight, Marika Koroibete. Conversions: Ben Donaldson (3). Penalty: Ben Donaldson.
Portugal: Tries: Pedro Bettencourt, Rafael Simões. Conversions: Samuel Marques (2).
Teams:
Australia: 1 Angus Bell, 2 David Porecki (c), 3 James Slipper, 4 Nick Frost, 5 Richard Arnold, 6 Tom Hooper, 7 Fraser McReight, 8 Rob Valetini, 9 Tate McDermott, 10 Ben Donaldson, 11 Marika Koroibete, 12 Lalakai Foketi, 13 Izaia Perese, 14 Mark Nawaqanitawase, 15 Andrew Kellaway. Replacements: 16 Matt Faessler, 17 Blake Schoupp, 18 Pone Fa’amausili, 19 Robert Leota, 20 Josh Kemeny, 21 Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, 22 Samu Kerevi, 23 Suli Vunivalu.
Portugal: 1 David Costa, 2 Mike Tadjer, 3 Diogo Hasse Ferreira, 4 José Madeira, 5 Martim Belo, 6 David Wallis, 7 Nicolas Martins, 8 Thibault de Freitas, 9 Samuel Marques, 10 Jerónimo Portela, 11 Rodrigo Marta, 12 Tomás Appleton (c), 13 Pedro Bettencourt, 14 Raffaele Storti, 15 Nuno Sousa Guedes. Replacements: 16 Francisco Fernandes, 17 Duarte Diniz, 18 Francisco Bruno, 19 Steevy Cerqueira, 20 Rafael Simões, 21 João Belo, 22 Joris Moura, 23 Manuel Cardoso Pinto.
