By Lucky Maree
➤ Officially the match between Fiji and Portugal wouldn’t make any difference in terms of World Cup 2023. Fiji had already qualified, and Portugal had not won a single match.
But Fiji, and the world, had not reckoned on national pride. Portugal was clearly playing for themselves, their team, and their country.
Going toe-to-toe with the huge Fijians, the smaller Portuguese players never stood back. Rodrigo Marta’s try brought Portugal to within one point of Fiji — and with one minute to go Samuel Marques converted to give his team a historic victory.
➤ Any talk that Ireland may take it easy against Scotland was forgotten within two minutes of the start of the match. Ireland scored their first try in the second minute and their sixth on the hour mark. Scotland scored two tries in the last 20 minutes which made the scoreboard look better, but the truth is, the Scots were given a rugby lesson that will live on in the history of test rugby for another 100 years.
➤ New Zealand, always the bullies, showed no mercy by scoring 11 tries against Uruguay. The reality that Uruguay was totally outclassed was no surprise, what was impressive was the way the All Black juggernaut never let up. The handling and power of every player is spectacular.
➤ If anybody expected Italy to put up some resistance against France they would have been disappointed. France scored eight tries in overwhelming the Azzurri who seem to have gone off the boil. France, as they have been throughout the tournament, seemed to lose interest for some 20 minutes and they even conceded a try against the run of play.
If they do that against South Africa next week, it could cost them dearly.
➤ Once again England was less than impressive. While their fans cheered their team’s nail-biting, one-point victory, it must be remembered that England were playing Samoa. Danny Care scored the winning try in the 73rd minute to give England the victory. Not the way to prepare to play Fiji in their knock-out match.
Fiji 23-24 Portugal
Ireland 36-14 Scotland
New Zealand 73-0 Uruguay
France 60-7 Italy
Wales 43-19 Georgia
England 18-17 Samoa
Japan 27-39 Argentina
Tonga 45-24 Romania
Pictured above: Portugal during their victory over Fiji.
Image source: X
