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
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
It's easy to say they won by 60 points but in Rugby there isn't much between 30 and 60 points. Spain are not going to the WC so have not had many games while Argentina were sreching their legs and playing for places v England. We saw Italy beat Japan by more than the AB XV but few would have Italy as the better team. The fact that they finished second in Europe too WC cycles in a row and their two u20 adventures was a second place extra time loss to the Championship relegated team and then at the second attempt 7 years later they win it says they are improving. Like Portugal's 26 point win v USA the teams not at the WC are already starting the next cycle and have cleared players.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Both areas have taken control of their own destiny and South America is mimicking what Europe has done while the PIs and North America have for years followed the Japan model of just focus on the men's team and make them professional. In one of my u20 articles I discussed why SANZAR doing an u20s was not going fo fix it because it starts at u18s which both Europe and now S America does which allows their 18 year olds to get into professional clubs and some of the European teams are now capping 19/20 year olds who never make it to the u20s side. Europe went to 8 teams recently too which means more teams coming up. One of these is Poland who now have a diaspora in Ireland the UK and France who were born after 2004 (joining EU) who are now starting to play rugby in their birth country and the first lot are nearly 20. There are 120k in Ireland, 700k in the UK and between 500k-1m in France. If they only have 10k people take up the sport across the 3 countries it would produce better players than 30k at home without the structures.
Mactruck
Roar Rookie
Just watched most of the game. Forwarded through the breaks in play so didnht take long :laughing: Flook played well lots of hussle and around the ankles tackles …was much more solid at 13 that Dauguno who left one of the biggest gaping hole in his channel I have ever seen! Flook to 13 Petataia to the utility bench
Crusher_13
Roar Rookie
Simple drops happen all the time. I note you said Wright scored the first try, but you didn’t mention he created the space for the line break, threw the pass to the winger then supported 40m down field to score. That’s what led to the try. But no mention?
Bentnuc
Roar Pro
100% cec. Physically not much difference, decision making .... well Kolisi is in another league
Cec
Roar Rookie
Bentnuc, from a physical perspective good point. And yes a 6 should be hitting the ruck to slow down their ball and pilfer some ball. From a Rugby IQ perspective those two are oceans apart, with one being a test captain and the other forever to be a fringe player.
Cec
Roar Rookie
TJ. Rankings go in swings and roundabouts between NH & SH test windows and opportunities to earn test points but evens out over over time if that makes sense. Regarding a few games in it, I guess that’s why some were more patient with what DR was building. TRC21 was a great run to #3. Then injuries hit and that team was never picked again but despite not having first choices, or the leeway Ed gets with Gits Law, DR managed to get a team together to only lose to #1 and #2 by only 4pts and it was the way our boys played too. Ed getting sacked when he did was really bad luck for DR. But I can’t see how Ed was a better choice from RA from the perspective that, relative to the available resources and players to select from, DR’s 38% is a better outcome than Eddie’s 38%. Ed should have been getting a heck of a lot more out of ENG where DR was governed back with lesser resources, key injuries and Gits Law. Time will tell but I think Ed peaked as a coach a couple of seasons ago.
No Arms
Roar Rookie
Orange card time?????
Worlds Biggest
Roar Pro
No one can make sense of the Donaldson selection, he is barely Super standard. Whilst QC isn’t the same player from 2021 and had a couple of costly errors in his appearances this year, his experience was a must. You would have felt more comfortable with Gordon starting and QC on bench. Jones is rolling the dice massively.
piru
Roar Rookie
Sorry mate not sure then. Have you tried using a VPN?
Leo5551
Roar Rookie
They need Quade. The non-selection still annoys me. Unfortunately due to Eddie's unwillingness to look back and discuss selection, no journo has been able to pin point the reason. Eddie mentioned the planning for Lions and RWC '27 and that he's come back from a serious injury and he wasn't as sharp as usual but we all know this would come back quickly. Particularly with the conditioning in camp he would have had and the games he could have used to sharp his skills, communication and cohesion. Is there something we don't know about? Did Quade question Eddie on his game plans in Test 1 to 4? The game plans that weren't effective. By picking Quade, Eddie could still have achieved the blooding of many young players and early planning of the Lions and RWC '27. Eddie knows you need an experienced squad to win the RWC yet he still went with little to no experience. Is the real reason he didn't take Quade because he has the best excuse if the Wallabies exit early - we picked a squad for the future, not a short sighted squad that would put our best foot forward in this World Cup but ignore '25 to '27. South Africa have Vermulen at 37yo but the Wallabies see the value in Quade at 35yo who is super fit. You could argue we never saw the best of Quade consistently on the international stage, week in week out in the last 5 years. This was Quade's final great opportunity to execute all his skills, experience but it's unfortunately ended. Maybe Quade wasn't as sharp as 2021 but with more game time he was surely going to improve. Maybe he can only play 10 but the experience under pressure and big moments is second to none. Meanwhile Donaldson has been average at best. Someone make sense of this.
Mactruck
Roar Rookie
Yes!!! Cynical penalties in the red zone that the AB’s don’t seem to get carded for in the first half of games at least.
piru
Roar Rookie
Front row is definitely a work on for the whole side. We've got Medrano back and just signed Atu Moli, but long term I think Pearce will be someone to watch as he grows into the professional game
Christy Doran
Editor
See other comment ie Waratahs bias. Please. As for how dropping a pass is worth a mention? It was dropped well short of contact. Simple one. Portugal scored next phase. They scored two tries. I'd have thought that the moment that led to a try, like when Quade dropped White's pass in Dunedin and the next involvement led to a matchwinning penalty, is worthy of highlighting.
Christy Doran
Editor
Sorry my report didn't reflect the players you wanted highlighted. You might be interested to know that Laurie Fisher spoke to me for a couple of minutes straight away after full-time siren. His player of the match? Swinton. His other standouts? Hanigan and Pietsch. But, yes, it's a blinded reporter focusing only on Sydney-based players... the propaganda has no end.
Bentnuc
Roar Pro
Reckon Swinton needs to add some defensive ruck work to his game to be an international back rower. He doesn't necessarily have to be great on the pilfering but might be suited better to counter rucking. Kolisi counter rucks brilliantly and doesn't often pilfer. He should be the blue print for Swinton as they seem to have similar builds/running styles.
Christy Doran
Editor
Had it been a World Cup match, almost certainly someone would have been shown a yellow from Portugal during first half. They played the 9 a lot from an offside position.
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
Bugger don’t have Stan in UK
savant
Roar Rookie
I like him a lot. He’s surprisingly quick. But scrumming is his biggest work on I think.
savant
Roar Rookie
Or admit to being Brumbies blind.