Portugal beat Hong Kong in the first match of the Final Qualification Tournament
Written by: Ricardo C.
The best part: The win, leading by 28 points and adding a bonus point to the logbook, perhaps critical for the final balance. For Portugal, winning is what matters to be in France in 2023.
The not-so-good part: Despite taking 10 minutes to enter the game, Portugal showed weaknesses at the set piece. In fact, Portugal not only did not manage to take the upper hand on the tactic phases of the game as they also allowed two tries from Hong Kong in sequence of dynamic mauls. The Portuguese coaching staff will need to improve this part of the game to be able to compete with the likes of the USA.
Player of the match: It would be unfair to not mention the entire back line of Portugal. But, Raffaele Storti scored two tries and comes as the brightest star among the inspirational creatives, running thin through the Asians, leaving them shredded in pieces on the field.
The Portuguese took a while to enter the match and suffered the first try at the minute seventh.
Hong Kong, by Alexander Post, open the scoreboard through a dynamic maul formed after a lineout 10 meters away from the try line. The try was converted by the flyhalf Gregor McNeish.
In the attempt to recover in the scoreboard, Portugal missed a penalty kick at the minute twelfth by Samuel Marques. However, Portugal was installed in its attacking half of the pitch with Storti appearing often in different positions trying to find space in between the opponent’s defence. After several attacking phases, the giant José Madeira broke the defensive line in a diagonal sprint from the centre, crossing the try line near the 5-meter line on the left side of the Portuguese attack. Samuel Marques scored the try and Portugal reached the equaliser at the minute 16.
At the restart, Hong Kong was able to keep Portugal within its 22-meter line, benefitting from a scrum near 20 meters away from the posts. In the sequence of the scrum, Portugal won the penalty on the floor and Samuel Marques played quickly allowing the Lobos to move in the pitch in to an attacking position. The time for the red jerseys to attack had finally come.
With Portugal insisting on the attack, in sequence of a line-out in the middle of the pitch, Tomas Appleton the Portuguese captain finds space to break the line and passed the ball to Storti who run alone to the try line. New conversion by Samuel Marques.
Honk-Kong tried to react again and following a penalty won a lineout 10 meters away from the try area. Nevertheless, Portugal managed to sustain the attacking play and released the pressure and as Hong Kong attempted again to attach, Portugal forced the Asian team to go about 80 meters back in the field. In the red line area, Hong Kong conceded a new try to the Europeans, by Jerónimo Portela. José Lima did 50% of the hard work, running more than 20 meters with ball in hand. Lima passed to Marta who isolated Portela to score. Samuel Marques, the scrum half, now about 10 meters inside the pitch, completes the conversion.
After 30 minutes, Portugal was in the lead by 21-7. The broadcast showed a focused Portuguese coach, but Patrice Lagisquet had good reasons to smile. In the last part of the first half, Hong Kong insisted on upsetting the Lobos. Benefitting from a new penalty, Hong Kong saw themselves disputing a lineout again 10 meters away from the try line.
Portugal committed a few penalties in a row and Tomas Appleton, the captain, got the first warning. A yellow card could promote a change in momentum. From a new lineout, now 7 meters away, Portugal shows lack of discipline once more. João Granate, after an offside, saw the yellow card and was forced to assist the following 10 minutes of the match from outside the pitch. For the Iberian side, this was a dangerous moment of the match, five minutes away from halftime.
Hong Kong pressured through scrum for a few minutes but was unable to change the scoreboard, finally losing the ball on a knock-on. The grass on the pitch started to come off on the areas of scrums.
The halftime arrived after an overall great performance of Portugal, after failing to impose themselves in the opening 10 minutes.
The opening minutes of the second-half did not change the score board. But as soon as the ball reached the Portuguese backline, the creativity of the Lobos resulted in a new try, this time by Rodrigo Marta. Samuel Marques did not miss the conversion, reaching the 80% accuracy mark in this match.
Portugal continued to control the match, promoting incredible line breaks, mas unfortunately failing to score through set piece plays – particularly from dynamic mauls created from lineouts in the ending parts of the field.
At the 50th minute, Guedes crosses the defence line of Hong Kong again and passes to Storti, who scored his second try of the day. Another easy conversion to Samuel Marques. Portugal increased the gap, leading now by 35-7.
The fate of the match was set and from this moment it was all about scoring more points, for record in the qualification log, as well as managing key players for the following and critical matches.
Portugal found again space on the wings. After a fantastic collective work, Rodrigo Marta close to the line, found the support of José Lima coming in a more central position who took the ball to the try zone. Sixth try, sixth conversion for Marques. Portugal was leading 42-7.
But, Hong Kong was not done in the match and continued to attack in the Portuguese 22. Portugal was already looking to the clock, yet with 20 minutes to be played in this match. Maybe already not fully focused, Portugal conceded a second try, scored by Jack Neville and converted by Gregor McNeish.
With the scoreline at 42-14, the match was not done yet. Portugal making use of most of the replacements at this point in the match, continued to attack from set piece – without success. After a new gap in the wings, Thibault de Freitas missed an obvious try. Playing advantage, Portugal continued to insist but failing to impose its dynamic maul.
At the 75th minute mark, Hong Kong finally approached again the Portuguese half, looking to add more points on the scoreboard. Without further changes in score, the Lobos still got frightened with a lengthy review by the TMO on a potential head contact tackle from the Portuguese captain, Tomas Appleton. The World Rugby player safety rules are strict and could result in a red card for the influential centre, becoming unavailable for the remaining matches of the qualifier. The referee, after evaluating multiple cameras’ footage and after consulting his team, decided that there was no evidence to penalise the Portuguese.
Relieved, the Portuguese continued to defend in the last 5 minutes of the match, forcing errors from the Asian side which couldn’t score any more points.
Portugal ended the first match of the qualifier for France 2023 exactly has desired. A convincing win with a bonus pot. But the match was not all roses. Linha de Ensaio highlighted some areas of homework for the Lobos and Patrice Lagisquet, their coach. Let’s go Portugal!
