SAINT ETIENNE – Don’t put your Wallabies jerseys and scarfs into storage just yet – just maybe there’s a World Cup lifeline coming next week in the shape of fiery Portugal.
Australia got the bonus point and win they needed to extend their woeful World Cup for another week but their 34-14 win will do little to convince fans that they’ve turned a corner, even though they had the game under control – on the scoreboard at least – for the last 15 minutes.
On the bright side, the performance of the losing team might just have raised some hope that the exciting Portuguese can spring the upset Australia crave against Fiji next week.
A Fiji point is enough to give them a quarterfinal and send Australia home at the end of the pool stage.
“They’re brilliant to watch play, Portugal. Tough forward pack, great backs. Can’t wait to see the Portuguese team and program evolve,” said Morgan Turinui on the Stan Sport coverage.
The Portuguese were ahead and on top before suffering a yellow card that switched momentum Australia’s way – and the Europeans made it a stressful run down the home stretch as Australia spent eight minutes around the hour mark with two players in the sin bin.
One of those was Samu Kerevi – a late inclusion for Carter Gordon – who was binned for an incident similar to four years ago against Wales when he was penalised for an aggressive charge with the ball.
It was a period where the Wallabies needed great resolve to survive.
“The Wallabies needed to did deep. It’s great to see the physical nature of the Wallabies digging in but it must be paired with clear minds, ” said Turinui.
“I’m loving the fact they’re trying to survive and they’re doing it by digging in and whacking any red jersey they see. Brilliant to see from this Wallabies team. Loving the desperation.”
Man of the match Rob Valetini said: “I thought the boys dug deep knowing it could be our last game. But credit to Portugal – they’re a very solid team. I can’t believe this is their first World Cup. They’re going to be a power and it’s great for the game.”
Fiji’s win over Georgia 24 hours earlier – with a fair dash of controversy – left Australia needing a bonus point win. They got it but they now face seven days of kicking stones before the Fijians face Portugal needing a point to send the Australians home.
“It’s going to be hard for the Wallabies this week,” said former Wallaby Stephen Hoiles.
“They’ve got to train as normal and that’s going to be a challenge because they’re going to be sitting there thinking they’re 100-1 to be playing in that quarterfinal but having seen that performance by Portugal they’re a quality side. It wasn’t a fluke how they pushed the Wallabies all the way. Fiji didn’t play well against Georgia.”
Australia started slowly but they found some good inroads via the Waratahs centre pairing of Izzy Perese and Lalakai Foketi, who combined superbly.
“I really like that Foketi and Perese combination, they’re going well out there,” said Sonny Bill Williams, while Tim Horan added: “I love the way the centres are pairing up. Izzy Perese, the way he gets across the advantage line and gets off loads is superb.”
While the opposition wasn’t at the level of the 40-6 loss to Wales, former Wallaby skipper James Horwill noted a more composed performance from the Wallabiues.
“They’re not under as much pressure as they were last week against Wales in terms of a tactical point of view,”said Horwill.
“Talking to each other has built confidence and momentum. We’ve seen the team lack confidence, they’ve looked unsure, hopefully dumbing it down a bit playing basic rugby has allowed them more confidence in their game. You can see they’re growing into the game.”
The confidence seemed to ebb at times in the second half but the Wallabies did enough as the pro Portugal crowd roared and their exciting backline asked serous questions, especially with the Wallabies down to 13.
“What a great effort from the Wallaby team under all sorts of pressure in the middle part of the second half,” said Justin Harrison. “Down to 13 men, pride in the line. Weathered the storm.
“Angus Bell, Koriobete, put themselves around for this jersey. If that’s the last game they play in this campaign it’s a game worth remembering, but it’s absolutely a campaign that’s been disappointing.
“We are going to see more of that Portugal team – that is a great display.””
The big question is was Australia poor or Portugal really good.
“A bit of both,” said Hoiles on Stan Sport.
“Our first half was excellent, there was some really good go forward and attacking footy. They looked like they had control in the first half but the second half the kick chase wasn’t good enough, the scrum was pressured, the lineout struggled and they were ill-disciplined. A scrappy second half. They would have taken it but scrappy towards the end.”
Horwill added: “First half clean, much more clinical and organised but in the second half went back to some of the bad habits from this tournament so far – a lack of discipline, guys going one out. But we need to credit Portugal – they were very good, their counter attack and back three in particular and they gave us a hard time in scrum and maul.”
East Coast Aces
Roar Rookie
IMO we played worse then we did against Georgia. The scoreline flattered us. If Kellaway doesn't save that try, if the TMO doesn't override the ref with an angle we never saw even though the ref was on the spot we only just scrape through with a win. Possibly lose if Portugal take advantage of the momentum. What I couldn't stop noticing was how much bigger our players looked in terms of muscle size and definition. And we kept trying to smash and bash the smaller Portugal team but they kept taking the hits and didn't let it effect their game too much. And their outside backs had a lot of zip that ours don't seem to have.
Phil
Roar Rookie
You would still think he would know better.
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
Quade inside, and Len out, Samu the goliath held the shifting point, the hairy hand of god, a light on the window a shifty shadow weaved with gossamers of hope then whoosh! it was gone
Guess
Roar Rookie
Well he wasn't given a card back then :silly: I miss poite btw
Guess
Roar Rookie
They are coached by normal coach instead of a fraud
Guess
Roar Rookie
Agreed. No doubt both clowns will use getting to qf as an excuse to stay while in reality it is the easiest draw and the crook only managed to win against two second tier teams
Guess
Roar Rookie
I mean it should’ve been a penalty try. Faessler disrupted their maul two times by tackling preventing Portugal from advancing. He got card for it.
Bliksem
Roar Rookie
Scotland I will agree, however they need to beat Ireland by 21 pts. Ireland beat Scotland the last 6 times they met so it is hard to imagine such a scenario.
In From The Side
Roar Rookie
Rugby really has sunk to a new low when in a game against Portugal where we can only score 10 points in one half we are talking about how good they played. While there was some great individual play at times the team looked lost and didn’t seem to know where they were. Poor discipline – again, poor handling – again, poor defence – again, poor attack – again. And then to compound this they remove the best player on the field, Kellaway to bring on Vunivalu and leave the worst player, Koriobete out there. This coaching team hasn’t got a clue
Skippy89
Roar Rookie
The worst outcome for aus rugby would be to through to QF. We dont deserve to, we will get flogged in QF and it will mask over just how bad we are and the dire state of aus rugby.
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
The leading forearm is not policed in Super Rugby. Saw a bunch this season go unpunished... Even applauded by commentators and fans. I only ever did it once in premier grade Rugby in Brisbane and learned my lesson with a red card.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
For large portions before the yellow card, yes they absolutely were. Should've been given another try too.
Fumbles
Roar Rookie
How is it that Portugal’s back line looks classy and innovative and we look so, so. Portugal bombed 2 tries and should have also had the penalty try. A couple of more composed passages of play and a little bit more forward power, they would have challenged. I have a feeling the wantabies might sneak through given how nervous the Fijians played.
Phil
Roar Rookie
How could he be that unintelligent to repeat the same action after the impact at last World Cup!? What’s disappointing is that after so much work he’s done to better his all round game, and how good he can be when he mixes up his game well, and passes well, he just hasn’t been able to get the balance right this tournament. But think he would have been better with Quade inside and Len outside him.
Bluffboy
Roar Rookie
You could probably put England and Scotland in that group
HopelessOptimist
Roar Rookie
Well done Wallabies. Glad we got a win. Not a convincing performance but a win is a win. Hopefully it helps build a little confidence.
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
Portugal were not the better side. Stop making stuff up
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
Kerevi is clearly past it.
Phil
Roar Rookie
How can our “world class” 12 not have learnt his lesson from 4 years ago?
Passit2me
Roar Rookie
Getting out of our pool, is the last thing we need. Until now, we have survived on the delusion of Aussie optimism, me included. What this WC has shown, is that the rugby world has moved on, and there is no longer any place for baseless, romantic comments, such as “Eddie’s young men can win this WC”. The delusion can no longer morf into any form of reality, and we no longer have anywhere to hide. If this result does not kickstart RA having a solid look at all that is wrong with our player development and coaching selections, nothing will.