Eagles, Portugal 2-0, Play for Final RWC Spot
Eagles, Portugal 2-0, Play for Final RWC Spot
Portugal and USA set up a Rugby World Cup 2023 Final Qualification Tournament decider after both teams made it two wins from two at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai.
Portugal Routs Kenya
Os Lobos opened match-day two with a comfortable 85-0 win against Kenya, before the men’s Eagles beat Hong Kong 49-7 in Dubai on Saturday.
It means Portugal lead the standings on points difference but whoever wins the meeting between the two sides next Friday will secure the 20th and last remaining ticket to RWC 2023, and their place in Pool C.
Hong Kong and Kenya both needed to win on Saturday to have any hope of qualifying for next year’s showpiece tournament in France, and now only third place will be on the line when they go head-to-head at The Sevens Stadium next week.
Portugal dominated their contest with Kenya from start to finish, running in 13 tries to win 85-0 in the opening match at The Sevens Stadium.
It took Os Lobos less than a minute to breach the Kenyan defense as No. 8 Thibault de Freitas profited from a powerful driving lineout.
Scrum-half Samuel Marques converted, and he did the same in the seventh minute after Portugal hooker Mike Tadjer had dotted down at the end of another set-piece drive.
Brian Tanga thought he had got Kenya on the scoreboard in the 14th minute, but his try was ruled out due to an earlier knock-on.
The Simbas conceded a third try almost instantly, through Manuel Cardoso Pinto, and Portugal subsequently secured a try-scoring bonus point in the 22nd minute as José Lima went over.
With Kenya second-row Brian Juma in the sin-bin, Os Lobos added a fifth try before half-time when winger Vincent Pinto was the beneficiary of a smart lineout move. Marques maintained his 100 per cent record from the tee to make the score 35-0 at the break.
Needing a victory to stay in contention for a place at RWC 2023, the task facing Kenya was already huge but got even bigger within a minute of the restart as Juma received a second yellow card and was subsequently sent off.
Portugal ran in five tries in the next 20 minutes as Tadjer, Vincent Pinto, captain Tomás Appleton (twice) and Jose Andrade all crossed the whitewash. Marques converted two, while Jéronimo Portela added another to give Os Lobos a 66-0 lead with a quarter of the match remaining.
Os Lobos crossed the whitewash on a further three occasions, through a penalty try, Joāo Belo and Lionel Campergue, their 13th and final score coming after Kenya had been reduced to 13 players, Geofrey Okwach sin-binned for a dangerous tackle.
Dolan, Augspurger Lead Eagles
The USA knew they needed to win well to keep pace with Portugal at the top of the standings and leapfrog them in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings, and they did just that against Hong Kong.
Gregor McNeish missed a second-minute penalty that would have given Hong Kong the lead, and that was about it for Hong Kong in the first half. Much of the half was played inside Hong Kong territory and while wing Christian Dyer's supposed try was called back for a forward pass, soon thereafter No. 8 Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz powered over from close range and AJ MacGinty added the extras.
Seven minutes later hooker Kapeli Pifeleti Jr. capped off a maul from a lineout and MacGinty again converted.
The rest of the first half played out to much the same script and Nate Augsperger added a third converted American try in the 25th minute, after some slick handling.
That was followed up 11 minutes later as Cam Dolan burrowed over from close range to secure the try-scoring bonus point for his side. MacGinty’s fourth conversion gave the Eagles a 28-0 lead at the break.
In the second half Mitch Wilson latched onto a reverse pass from MacGinty to stretch the USA lead seven minutes into the second half, before Augsperger added his second and the Eagles’ sixth try of the match.
Hong Kong played hard and did get a try from Matthew Worley that featured the Eagles seemingly purposefully leaving Worley a gigantic gap through which to run.
But the USA responded with flanker Moni Tonga’uiha surging through for the seventh USA try.
Overall, the the USA is 2-0 as is Portugal, and both teams outperformed the other in their second go-round.
"I thought the first half was pretty clinical" said USA Head Coach Gary Gold after the game. "I think we went our business quite well. We were able to spend over 60% of the first half putting them under pressure in their half of the field which was our objective. We wanted to put them under pressure at the set piece, which we by and large achieved.
"I'm happy with where we are at the moment, I think we're improving in certain areas, but we've got our work cut out for us next weekend, that's for sure. Next week I would definitely like to see us follow through on our chances. We're creating so many opportunities, but we're just not finishing them off. Whether it's deciding to keep the ball in hand or being more clinical at the line out, we'll need to take more advantage of our opportunities next week."
Certainly MacGinty had the attack firing and his goalkicking made sure the USA got maximum points for their efforts.
“It was always challenging, and even though the sun was down it was sweaty and sticky out there.," said MacGinty. "The territory was a big part of the first half, and our forwards managed to get on top. That gave us a lot of joy, so really happy with that. The whole week you just want to perform your best. You don’t go chasing the outcome, and that was a big focus this week. Just staying on task was the message.
"In these conditions, it was difficult to play, so our mindset was putting the pressure on to keep the ball in their half, we managed to do that a lot. We want to get better, and I don’t know how many things you want to tweak in a short turnaround, but it’s about stepping up again. The intensity of the game is going to increase, so you have to rise to that.”
—World Rugby, USA Rugby releases
