Wales had to work hard to beat a willing Portugal with a 28-08 bonus point win Allianz Riviera, Nice on Saturday. Wales were lucky to lead 14-03 at the halftime break and had to work extremely hard until the dying minutes of the match.
Portugal impressed during the opening minutes of the first half however a mistake by Portugal in Wales' 22m resulted in a Louis Rees-Zammit try in the corner. Wales led 07-00 after ten minutes of play.
The rest of the first half was an action-packed affair with Portugal asking several questions to Wales, however, Portugal could only add a converted penalty by Tomos Williams after thirty-eight minutes of play in the first half.
Sustained pressure by Wales during the final minutes of the first half resulted in a try by captain Dewi Lake three minutes after time was already up. The halftime score with Wales leading 14-03 was not a true reflection of the on-field action as Portugal failed to score on several occasions.
It took Wales fifteen minutes in the second half to score their third try of the match. Wales launched wave after wave of attacks until Jac Morgan forced his way over the try line to extend Wales' lead to 21-03.
However, Portugal kept up their positive play until flanker Nicolas Martins scored Portugal's first try around the front of a 5m lineout in a playground move. Wales led 21-08 after twenty-two minutes of play in the second half.
Wales were desperate to score the bonus-point try and threw everything apart from the toilet furniture at Portugal until Taulupe Faletau barged his way over the tryline from the back of the scrum. Wales secured a difficult 28-08 bonus point win, after three minutes of extra time was allowed.
Scorers:
Wales: Tries: Louis Rees-Zammit, Dewi Lake, Jac Morgan, Taulupe Faletau. Conversions: Leigh Halfpenny (3), Sam Costelow.
Portugal: Try: Nicolas Martins. Penalty: Tomos Williams.
Teams:
Wales: 1 Nicky Smith, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 3 Dillon Lewis, 4 Christ Tshiunza, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 6 Dan Lydiate, 7 Jac Morgan, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 9 Tomos Williams, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 11 Rio Dyer, 12 Johnny Williams, 13 Mason Grady, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 15 Leigh Halfpenny. Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Sam Costelow, 23 Josh Adams.
Portugal: 1 Francisco Fernandes, 2 Mike Tadjer, 3 Anthony Alves, 4 Martim Belo, 5 Steevy Cerqueira, 6 João Granate, 7 Nicolas Martins, 8 Rafael Simões, 9 Samuel Marques, 10 Jerónimo Portela, 11 Rodrigo Marta, 12 Tomás Appleton (c), 13 José Lima, 14 Vincent Pinto, 15 Nuno Sousa Guedes. Replacements: 16 David Costa, 17 Lionel Campergue, 18 Diogo Hasse Ferreira, 19 Thibault De Freitas, 20 David Wallis, 21 Pedro Lucas, 22 Joris Moura, 23 Raffaele Storti.