Lobos get their second win in the Final Qualification Tournament and are one match away from making history.
Written by: Rui Neto Fernandes
The best part: uncontested victory for Portugal that didn’t give Kenya a change to fight for the result. The 85 points scored allowed Portugal to top the table which can be important in case of a draw on the last match.
The not-so-good part: The perennial point about Portugal’s discipline. There were improvements comparatively to the match against Hong Kong but the team keeps giving penalties away, some due to some precipitation on the breakdown. Against the U.S.A, Portugal has to improve on this if they want to win.
Player of the match: Plenty of players could have won this distinction: Steevy Cerqueira (World’s Rugby), Mike Tadjer (the leader of the pack and author of 2 tries), José Madeira or Tomás Appleton. However, Linha de Ensaio’s player of the match was Samuel Marques. The Portuguese scrum-half commanded the team’s offence, accelerating when needed and creating a lot of pressure in the Kenyan defence. Besides, he converted 6 out of the 8 tries, giving assurances that he’ll be there for the team.
Portugal beat Kenya 85-0 and topped the Final Qualification Tournament table. Coach Patrice Lagisquet changed eight players in the starting XV, resting some key elements for the match against the USA.
Besides David Wallis, that fractured a jaw against Hong Kong, Portugal changed both props, with David Costa and António Prim grabbing jerseys number 1 and 3, respectively. José Rebelo de Andrade started on second row with Nicolas Martins and Thibault de Freitas playing at 6 and 8. There were also three changes in the backs, with two new wingers (Manuel Cardoso Pinto and Vincent Pinto) and a new full-back: Simão Bento.
Despite all the changes, Portugal dominated from the beginning, showing that they were there to win. Mike Tadjer scored the first try after a driving maul and the team repeated the feat 5 minutes later, moving the scoreboard to 12-0.
Portugal pressed high on the pitch, not giving the Kenyan backs space to explore their speed. With 15 minutes played, and immediately after Kenya saw a try disallowed by the TMO, Manuel Cardoso Pinto completely destroyed the opposite defence and scored Portugal’s third try.
Portugal played with a lot of flair and pace, and it was well-organised on the pitch. It was easy to see that they were going to carry on scoring and with 21 minutes, it was Simão Bento’s turn to break the Kenyan defence and assist José Lima for another try. Samuel Marques, with his fourth conversion of the match, moved the score to 28-0.
Vincent Pinto scored Portugal’s fifth try after a brilliantly played line-out with the team faking a maul before passing to the blindside where the Portuguese winger scored. At the break, Portugal was leading 35-0.
The second half started with Brian Juma seeing his second yellow card of the afternoon (and consequent red), leaving the already fragile Kenyan team down to 14 men.
Two minutes later, Mike Tadjer scored his second of the afternoon (another maul) and shortly after Vincent Pinto also scored his brace, finishing a play that he had himself started with an excellent line break. Appleton scored Portugal’s eight try following a great turnover by Nicolas Martins with Raffaele Storti (that had come in from the bench) with the assist. With 51 minutes played, Cardoso Pinto had one of his amazing line breaks, got rid of three Kenyan defenders and assisted José Rebelo de Andrade for another try.
Until the end of the match, Portugal kept pressing (whilst maintaining a good defensive line) and scored three more tries: Tomas Appleton (60th), João Belo (72nd) and Lionel Campergue (77th). Portugal also benefited from a penalty-try, putting the final score on 85-0.
This coming Friday (18th) at 3:30pm (Lisbon time), all rugby fans in Portugal will stop to watch the match that can take Portugal to the World Cup. Based on the first two matches, it is thoroughly deserved that we make it there.
