Georgia and Portugal could not be separated at the Stadium de Toulouse on Saturday, with their Rugby World Cup contest finishing in an exciting 18-18 draw.
In an enthralling encounter, Portugal came from 13-0 behind to launch a stunning fightback as they held an 18-13 lead before Tengizi Zamtaradze scored a try in the game's dying moments to clinch the draw for the Lelos.
Akaki Tabutsadze also scored a try for Georgia while Tedo Abzhandadze added two penalties and a conversion.
Raffaele Storti was Portugal's hero as he scored a brace of tries and their other points came via the boot of Samuel Marques, who succeeded with two penalties and a conversion.
The Lelos made a fantastic start and opened the scoring inside 90 seconds when Davit Niniashvili made a telling line break inside Portugal's 22 before getting a sublime offload out to Tabutsadze, who went over for a try.
The next 20 minutes was a tight contest as the sides battled to gain the ascendancy but a penalty from Abzhandadze in the 16th minute gave his team a 10-0 lead, before Gela Aprasidze crossed the whitewash shortly afterwards but his effort was disallowed as he knocked on in the build-up.
Despite having that score disallowed, Georgia still held an edge over their opponents and they spent long periods camped inside Portugal's half.
In the 32nd minute, Abzhandadze increased Georgia's lead with another three-pointer off the kicking tee after Pedro Bettencourt was blown up for straying offside on defence before Os Lobos opened their account with a superb try from Storti.
Portugal gathered possession from the restart ― after Abzhandadze's penalty ― and the ball was shifted wide to Storti, who stepped past a couple of defenders about 10 metres inside Georgia's half before showing the cover defence a clean pair of heels over the try-line.
Marques struck an upright with his conversion attempt but, despite that setback, Portugal had their tails up during the latter stages of the opening half.
However, they suffered a setback just before half-time when Francisco Fernandes was yellow carded for a 'no arms' tackle on Shalva Mamukashvili and the teams changed sides with the Lelos holding a 13-5 lead.
A tense finish to a blockbuster in Toulouse 🤯#RWC2023 | #GEOvPOR pic.twitter.com/V2ivtU1gtU
― Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) September 23, 2023
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Os Lobos held the upper hand during the early stages of the second half and they reduced the deficit to five points in the 48th minute when Marques slotted a penalty after Vladimer Chachanidze was punished for a high tackle on Jerónimo Portela.
Portugal continued to dominate as the half progressed and another Marques penalty five minutes later meant the match was evenly balanced before Storti gave Portugal the lead with his second five-pointer midway through the second half.
This, after he gathered an inside pass from Portela and set off on an arcing run before crossing the whitewash. Marques added the extras which meant Portugal had their tails up with the score 18-13 in their favour.
The final quarter was a tense affair as the Lelos tried desperately to draw level but a combination of errors and stoic Portuguese defence kept them at bay for long periods until Zamtaradze went over for his five-pointer off the back of a lineout drive deep inside Portugal's 22 in the 79th minute.
Luka Matkava lined up the conversion attempt, which would have secured the win for the Lelos, but his effort was wide of the uprights.
There was drama at the end when Os Lobos were awarded a penalty in the game's closing stages, after one of Georgia's players held onto the ball at a ruck, but Nuno Sousa Guedes' shot at goal was off target.
That meant the teams had to settle for the draw which denied Portugal their first-ever victory in a Rugby World Cup match.
The teams
Georgia: 15 Davit Niniashvili, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 13 Giorgi Kveseladze, 12 Merab Sharikadze (c), 11 Alexander Todua, 10 Tedo Abzhandadze, 9 Gela Aprasidze, 8 Beka Gorgadze, 7 Beka Saginadze, 6 Tornike Jalagonia, 5 Konstantine Mikautadze, 4 Vladimer Chachanidze, 3 Beka Gigashvili, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili
Replacements: 16 Tengizi Zamtaradze, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Guram Papidze, 19 Nodar Cheishvili, 20 Giorgi Tsutskiridze, 21 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 22 Luka Matkava, 23 Demur Tapladze
Portugal: 15 Nuno Sousa Guedes, 14 Raffaele Storti, 13 Pedro Bettencourt, 12 Tomás Appleton (c), 11 Rodrigo Marta, 10 Jerónimo Portela, 9 Samuel Marques, 8 Rafael Simões, 7 Nicolas Martins, 6 João Granate, 5 Steevy Cerqueira, 4 José Madeira, 3 Diogo Hasse Ferreira, 2 Mike Tadjer, 1 Francisco Fernandes
Replacements: 16 David Costa, 17 Lionel Campergue, 18 Anthony Alves, 19 Martim Belo, 20 David Wallis, 21 Thibault de Freitas, 22 Pedro Lucas, 23 Manuel Cardoso Pinto
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Matthew Carley (England), Chris Busby (Ireland)
Television Match Official: Joy Neville (Ireland)
No comments:
Post a Comment