Eagles no match for flying Lobos

Portugal took full advantage of their only warm-up test ahead of the World Cup with a runaway 46-20 victory over the USA in Algarve on Saturday. While the Eagles matched their hosts up front, they were outclassed by the electric Lobos backline that had far too much pace and guile for their guests.

All of the opening minutes were played in Portugal’s end. The American forwards were dominant and Greg Peterson was driven over but the big man was held up. To their credit Os Lobos held out as the onslaught continued and eventually the Eagles settled for three points off the boot of Luke Carty.

The script flipped at the restart. Portugal won possession and a raking kick from Joris Moura into the corner pinned the Eagles on their goal line. After turning down a shot at the sticks, the Lobos ran a set piece from a center scrum that confused the US defense and Moura raced over for the try. Samuel Marques chipped over the extras to make it 7-3 to the home side.

Portugal were on the attack around the halfway line when a stray pass found the grass and was snatched up by Sam Golla. The flanker took off but couldn’t quite pull away from the cover. His inside pass however was deflected by Rodrigo Marta in-goal, and it was Cam Dolan on the spot to fall on the ball for the try. Carty’s conversion put the Eagles back in front.

In the background Steevy Cerquiera left the pitch with a shoulder injury, the second forward lost by the Lobos after No8 Thibault de Freitas had gone off with a bad ankle. Penalties began to mount for Portugal and they got more bad news as João Granate was binned for a breakdown infringement. Carty took advantage to take another three points.

Seconds later the Lobos had a reply, and in spectacular fashion. Nuno Sousa Guedes found a gap on a counterattack and ripped clean through the middle. The fullback stabbed a grubber through and it bounced up perfectly for Marta to regather and touch down for five points. Marques couldn’t quite connect from wide out however and the USA held their lead.

With Granate still off the pitch the home side scored again to regain the lead. Marques broke from a ruck and successive offloads from Rafael Simões and David Wallis found Tomás Appleton in space. The captain cut back inside to find a seam and score the go-ahead try. Two more points went up with the kick from Marques and he would add three more from a tough angle on the stroke of halftime to make it 22-13.

Marques found himself in trouble early in the second half. With the Eagles on attack, the scrumhalf threw out a hand to disrupt what would have been a scoring pass. A yellow card was brandished and seven points went up on the board from the penalty try.

Again showing no regard for their disadvantage, Portugal came roaring back with a superb try from their backs. Moura spotted a huge patch of grass with no defenders in sight and in went the grubber, with Vincent Pinto this time on the end for another try. Sousa Guedes stepped up to take the extras and nailed the kick from the sideline.

The Lobos turned up the heat in the final quarter. A turnover in the midfield was quickly converted into points. The ball was spun wide left where Marta broke a tackle and scythed through the line to sprint 50 meters for a tremendous individual effort. Next it was Vincent Pinto who broke free, racing clear to the corner and though Chris Mattina managed to arrive a meter short of the line, the replacement fullback killed the ball to prevent a certain try and seven points were awarded with Mattina sent to the bin.

A try from the Portuguese forwards finally came when Nicolas Martins stretched out of a tackle to score from close range. The last act of the game was a sensational end-to-end attack that went through multiple hands ending with Jose Lima crossing, but a TMO review found a foot in touch on the move that wiped out what would have been the best try of the match.

It’s now on to Tbilisi for the Eagles, who face Georgia in a week’s time for their final match of the European tour. Portugal conclude their World Cup preparations with a hit-out against Australia ‘A’ at the neutral venue of Brou-sur-Chantereine, France, on August 26.

 

SCORING

PORTUGAL 46
Tries (7) – J. Moura (15′), R. Marta 2 (30′, 64′), T. Appleton (35′), V. Pinto (50′), Penalty try (69′), N. Martins (78′)
Cons (4) – S. Marques 2/4 (16′, 36′), N. Sousa Guedes 1/2 (51′), No kick (69′)
Pens (1) – S. Marques 1/1 (40′)
YC (2) – J. Granate (28′), S. Marques (43′)

USA 20
Tries (2) – C. Dolan (22′), Penalty try (43′)
Cons (2) – L. Carty 1/1 (23′), No kick (43′)
Pens (2) – L. Carty 2/2 (10′, 29′)
YC (1) – C. Mattina (69′)

 

TEAMS

PORTUGAL
1 Francisco Fernandes (16 David Costa 58′), 2 Mike Tadjer (17 Lionel Campergue 56′), 3 Anthony Alves (18 Diogo Ferreira 59′), 4 José Madeira, 5 Steevy Cerqueira (20 David Wallis 23′), 6 João Granate, 7 Nicolás Martins, 8 Thibault de Freitas (19 Rafael Simões 14′), 9 Samuel Marques (21 Pedro Lucas 73′), 10 Joris Moura (22 Jerónimo Portela 54′), 11 Rodrigo Marta, 12 Tomás Appleton (capt.), 13 José Lima, 14 Vincent Pinto (23 Manuel Cardoso Pinto 69′), 15 Nuno Sousa Guedes

USA
1 Jack Iscaro (17 Jake Turnbull 67′), 2 Dylan Fawitt (16 Peter Malcolm 72′), 3 Kaleb Geiger (18 Paul Mullen HT), 4 Cam Dolan (20 Vili Helu 77′), 5 Greg Peterson (capt.), 6 Sam Golla, 7 Paddy Ryan, 8 Luke White (19 Thomas Tu’avao 62′), 9 Nick McCarthy (21 Ruben de Haas 62′), 10 Luke Carty, 11 Nate Augspurger, 12 Tavite Lopeti, 13 Mika Kruse (23 Lauina Futi 58′), 14 Christian Dyer, 15 Mitch Wilson (22 Chris Mattina 59′)

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistants: Mike Adamson (Scotland) & Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
TMO: Thomas Charabas (France)