Brazil stun Portugal with incredible comeback win

The magic of the Estádio do Pacaembu continues! Brazil erased a 21-6 deficit by scoring three tries in the final seven minutes to secure a stunning 25-21 victory over Portugal in São Paulo on Saturday. It marked an incredible turn in fortunes for the Tupis whose performance was riddled with mistakes for the best part of an hour that saw them commit numerous penalties and handling errors. What looked like a certain Portugal victory instead turned into celebration for Brazil.

An early penalty goal from Moisés Duque was answered with an excellent try from Tomás Appleton, who raced into the corner to give Portugal the upper hand. Duque responded with his second penalty goal but Nuno Costa e Penha came back with one of his own to make the score 8-6, where the game would rest to halftime with the Lobos kicker missing two kickable shots at goal.

Portugal again came out the stronger side in the second half. Costa e Penha found his groove and put three points on the board and almost immediately after his team landed their second try. Blindside flanker Geordie McSullea made a half-break and Manuel Cardoso Pinto was on his hip to pick a lovely offload from his boot laces to score under the posts. The simple conversion made it a 12-point lead which was then extended to 15 with Costa e Penha’s third penalty goal.

With the clock winding down the Lobos seemed to be comfortable with their lead and sat back in defense. The result was catastrophic. Replacement winger Robert Tenório sprinted over in the corner for the first try, but still 10 points up there was no concern on the Portuguese faces. That changed rapidly when Felipe Sancery ripped through the middle just a couple minutes later to touch down under the posts.

From the restart Brazil attacked wide and a shell-shocked Lobos defense could only watch as Daniel Sancery rounded the corner and stepped past the last man to seal an unbelievable passage of play from the Tupis. Duque’s conversion from a wide angle was the icing on the cake. There was still time for one last kickoff but Brazil controlled the ball and sent the ball into touch to bring down the curtains on yet another historic moment in Brazilian rugby.

 

SCORING

BRAZIL 25
Tries – R. Tenório (73’), F. Sancery (76’), D. Sancery (78’)
Cons – M. Duque 2/3 (77’, 79’)
Pens – M. Duque 2/2 (8’, 16’)
Drop goals – J. Reeves 0/1

PORTUGAL 21
Tries – T. Appleton (10’), M. Cardoso Pinto (48’)
Cons – N. Costa e Penha 1/2 (49’)
Pens – N. Costa e Penha 3/5 (18’, 45’, 68’)
Yellow cards – S. Villax (55’)

 

TEAMS

BRAZIL
1 Jonatas Paulo (17 Caíque Silva 36’), 2 Yan Rosetti (capt.), 3 Matheus Rocha (18 Pedro Bengaló HT), 4 Cléber Dias, 5 Gabriel Paganini, 6 André Arruda, 7 Arthur Bergo (20 João Luiz da Ros 65’), 8 Nick Smith (19 Matheus Daniel HT), 9 Lucas Duque (23 Robert Tenório 62’), 10 Josh Reeves, 11 Lucas Tranquez (22 De Wet van Niekerk 54’), 12 Moisés Duque, 13 Felipe Sancery, 14 Stefano Giantorno (21 Laurent Bourda-Couhet 5’), 15 Daniel Sancery

Not used: 16 Endy Willian

PORTUGAL
1 Bruno Medeiros (16 João Corte Real 65’), 2 Duarte Diniz (17 Nuno Mascarenhas 65’), 3 Francisco Bruno (18 José Conde 65’), 4 José Rebelo de Andrade, 5 Gonçalo Uva, 6 Geordie McSullea (19 João Granate 49’), 7 Sebastião Villax, 8 João Lino, 9 Francisco Magalhães (22 Manuel Quéiros 73’), 10 Nuno Penha e Costa (21 Jorge Abecasis 75’), 11 Adérito Esteves, 12 José Luis Cabral, 13 Tomás Appleton, 14 Gonçalo Foro (capt.), 15 Manuel Cardoso Pinto

Not used: 20 Francisco Appleton, 23 Caetano Branco

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Damián Schneider (UAR)
Assistants: Henrique Platais (CBRu) & Ricardo Sant’Anna (CBRu)