Portugal travelled to Gdynia and defeated Poland (3-65) in the second round of the Rugby Europe Championship.
Written by: Nuno Madeira do O
The best part: After the first 10 minutes, Portugal had a solid performance against a Polish side still getting used to the Rugby Europe Championship. However, the Narodowy Stadium was almost full, giving an amazing atmosphere to what was happening on the pitch. Moreover, good supporting infrastructure, with food, drinks, and merchandise, making a great day out for the fans.
The not-so-good part: Despite having scored at the 2nd minute, Portugal didn’t play well during the first 10-15 minutes. Perhaps due to the wind and rain, the team made some mistakes and left some unscored tries on the pitch.
Player of the match:This was perhaps the hardest match for choose the player of the match. Hooker Mike Tadjer ran the Portuguese scrum superbly, scored a try and was everywhere in a high-intensity match. Also in the pack, Nicolas Martins had a great match. The flanker has been growing with each passing match and is becoming a certainty in the Portuguese pack. Good tackles and several metres gained with each carry. Regarding the backs, Simão Bento had an excellent performance, opening several gaps in the polish defence. Vincent Pinto and Rodrigo Marta had a superb match, with four tries apiece. However, and because he became the top try-scorer in the history of Portuguese rugby, we will give this award to the Dax winger. 25 tries in 28 caps at the age of 23 is simply unbelievable and we look forward to seeing what he can do.
Full stadium, barbecue on and a lot of excitement from de 2,000 fans that went to the Narodowy Stadium to watch Poland’s first home game in this edition of the Rugby Europe Championship. Despite the weather (5C and an icy wind), the anticipation was palpable in those of made their way to the game.
The match practically started with Portugal’s try: Samuel Marques, very clinical, scoring under the posts. Try converted, 0-7 on the board with only 2 minutes played. The home team answered back almost immediately and scored through a penalty shortly after, reducing the difference to only four points. Motivated by the points scored, Poland went all out on attack and played the next 10 minutes inside the Portuguese half. However, it didn’t materialise the territorial possession into points and it was Portugal who scored again. Samuel Marques with a cunning tap and go gained several metres before assisting Jerónimo Portela that scored the try.
Until the end of the first half, Portugal was on top and scored two more tries (Marta x 2 and Tadjer). At the break, 3-29 for the visitors.
Portugal started the second half wanting to show who the winner was going to be and scored three tries in five minutes (Vincent Pinto x 2 and Rodrigo Marta with the hat-trick). Poland were trying their best but couldn’t keep us with the pace that the Portuguese backs had. Beside that, the Portuguese scrum was very dominant and gave the visitors an excellent offensive platform.
Until the end, three more tries (Pinto x 2 and another one from Marta), one of them quite spectacular: Pedro Lucas (that had subbed Samuel Marques) with a cross-field kick that Vincent Pinto grabbed in the air before diving to the corner.
However, the final five minutes of the match brought some bad news with Tomás Appleton (knee) and Vincent Pinto (ankle) leaving the pitch injured. We hope it’s nothing serious and that both of them can be available for the match against Romania that will decide the winner of Pool B and the team that will play the tournament’s semi-final at home.
Final score of 3-65, a good performance from Portugal and joint top place with Romania.
