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PARIS – Two tries from Dylan Pietsch, a rousing performance from Lachie Swinton and a strong cameo from Ned Hanigan have seen Australia A sneak home against Portugal at the Stade Jules Ladoumague on Saturday night.
With Eddie Jones watching from the stands alongside his Wallabies coach staff, Australia A managed to overturn a 14-12 deficit at half-time to post a 30-17 victory against the European nation.
The match offered up some insight into how Portugal will play at next month’s World Cup, with the Wallabies to play their Pool C rivals in St Etienne on October 1.
Despite some on-ball pressure from openside flanker Nicolas Martins, and attacking desire from halfback Samuel Marques and fullback Nuno Sousa Guedes, Jones won’t be spending too much time delving into the archives to analyse Portugal. After all, this was a match Australia A should have won easily.
What Jones would have noticed however is who took their chance against the World Cup participants.
Some did, others let the opportunity slip through their fingers.
Tom Wright, as always, had his moments and scored the opening try in the second minute after Swinton got Australia A well over the gain line first phase from a lineout.
But the fullback also spilled a simple pass in the 31st minute and a minute later Portugal scored their second try to take the lead as James O’Connor missed another tackle.
Pietsch, who was in Jones’ Rugby Championship squad but wasn’t given a debut cap, was constantly a threat and scored a try in both halves to keep himself on the selection radar.
Swinton was physical and carried the ball the best he has since making his Super Rugby debut in 2019, breaking the Portuguese line on several occasions.
But he was somewhat fortunate there was no Television Match Official at the small ground in Paris’ south-west after Portugal’s hooker Mike Tadjer antagonised the flanker on the ground, leading to the four-capped Wallabies flanker lashing out recklessly.
Waratahs forward Lachlan Swinton was one of Australia A’s best during their 30-17 win over portgual. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
How Jones viewed the incident would have been curious (he made one of England’s most suspended players captain when he took over in 2016), but there’s no doubt everyone held their breath for a moment or two as Swinton locked horns with his counterpart.
While Hanigan managed to show his experience and quality up front, as he stole lineouts, got on the ball to win penalties and eventually scored the match-sealing try in the final minutes in tight.
Ryan Lonergan’s service was strong and Bernard Foley’s communication apparent, but the fact Australia A trailed by two points at half time despite dominating possession and territory told a story.
The men in gold should have led by a healthy margin at half-time but bombed several tryscoring opportunities by either failing to show the required patience or poor decision-making.
Three stolen lineouts didn’t help either, with Lachlan Lonergan having an up and down night.
From 12-0 up, Australia A coach Jason Gilmore watched as his side’s lead disappeared as Lonergan was intercepted a metre out from Portugal’s tryline after dummying and backing himself following a strong Pietsch run. The turnover ended with Martins finishing a length of the field try.
They then lost the lead when O’Connor was beaten clean by Jose Lima first-phase from an attacking scrum and winger Rafaelle Stortie finished well.
After Pietsch’s second try gave Australia A the lead early in the second half, Portugal levelled up the score at 17-17 following a scrum penalty.
It said plenty about Australia A’s performance that Lonergan was forced to build their lead in threes, before Hanigan’s late try sealed the match.
Gilmore described the victory as “underwhelming”.
“Coming into the game we knew they loved using the footy, they’re very good on turnover ball, play fast off counterattack but we dominated that ‘A’ zone in that first half and to only come away with two tries is really disappointing,” he said.
The Waratahs defence coach nominated Hanigan as his side’s player of the match for his 30 minute cameo at No.8 and added that Swinton was getting back to his best.
Swinton later said he didn’t play like an “angry” player but rather was simply doing “my job”.
Gilmore will now oversee a Barbarians tour of the United Kingdom, which will feature around 15 Australian players.
The Barbarians, who will also allow some South Africa and Japanese, has been organised so Jones will have some fit and ready players available to be called upon if injury strikes his Wallabies side throughout the World Cup.
“There’s going to be injuries. Rarely do you get a 33 that starts a tournament and finishes a tournament. The boys knew that. They’re smart footballers,” Gilmore said.
“But they’ve just got to make sure they’re putting up good performances as well. It’s one thing to be here and the Barbarians, but if you don’t play well Eddie will go in a different direction.”
Swinton, who is set to feature on the tour, said he simply was doing everything he could to give himself the best chance of succeeding if called upon by Jones.
“There’s always the prospect someone could get called in at any stage. However, if that doesn’t happen we’ve got our own good thing going here,” Swinton said.
“It’s really good to play with some mates I’ve played against all year. We’re really tight already and we’re a week in. If you get called up, whoever it is will do a great job and, if not, we’ve got a good thing going here.
“He [Jones] said, just be ready. Your time may come and you don’t want to miss the jump if it does. We’re just fortunate enough to be playing footy over here and not running straight lines back home.”
Score
Australia 30 (Pietsch 2, Wright, Hanigan; Lonergan 2 pen, 2 con) bt Portugal 17
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