Saint-Etienne: The Wallabies have kept their slim hopes of making it to the last eight at the Rugby World Cup alive after a 34-14 bonus-point win over Portugal in their final pool match in France.
In the 47th minute, Fraser McReight dived over for Australia’s fourth try and an all-important bonus point that has pushed the Wallabies (11 points) above Fiji (10 points) into second spot in their pool.
Fraser McReight goes over for the Wallabies to secure a bonus point.Credit: Getty Images
The only way the Wallabies can sneak into a quarter-final is if Portugal, ranked No.16 in the world, beat Fiji by eight points or more during their final clash on Sunday (Monday 6am AEST).
Fiji would also go through if they scored four tries against Portugal, regardless of the result.
Australia do not play a game next week due to World Rugby’s new schedule, which grants teams a week off in the pool stages to aid player welfare.
Considering Portugal has never won a World Cup match, it would be an upset of remarkable proportions if Fiji were to fail.
Wallaby Izaia Perese is tackled by Portugal’s Raffaele Storti and Nicolas Martins at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne.Credit: Getty Images
It would not be the craziest suggestion for coach Eddie Jones to leave Wallabies camp for a few days and head to Perpignan in the south of France to help Portugal plot a victory over Fiji. The Fijians were unimpressive in their 17-12 victory over Georgia on Saturday (local time).
Wales and Fiji look set to finish first and second in Pool C and even the most optimistic Australian rugby fan would admit that the Wallabies look destined for their first World Cup pool stage exit in 36 years of tournaments.
Saint-Etienne will be Australia’s home until at least Sunday night when their fate will be sealed in Toulouse.
Against Portugal in Saint-Etienne, three first-half tries set up the victory for Australia as Angus Bell, Rob Valetini and Izaia Perese all put in excellent shifts with the team under immense pressure.
The Wallabies led 24-7 at half-time and held on.
Australia’s woes were compounded before kick-off when reserve playmaker Carter Gordon was ruled out with a knee injury.
It left Australia without a back-up playmaker due to Jones’ baffling decision to not take a third No.10 on tour.
Jones said before the match that Samu Kerevi was the next player up at No.10 in the event Donaldson picked up an injury.
Who would have had that on a Wallabies bingo card a few months ago?
However, Donaldson was calm and composed and marshalled his troops around the field well.
A Mexican wave flew around the ground before kick-off. That is generally not a great indicator that the crowd is completely invested in the spectacle.
Boos reverberated around Stade Geoffroy-Guichard when Wallabies skipper David Porecki pointed to the posts instead of chasing a five-pointer.
Scoreboard pressure is important, but with Australia needing four tries to remain in the tournament, it was a surprising decision that did not go down well with Wallabies fans who’d effectively arrived to watch a dead rubber.
Donaldson kicked the three-pointer before Portugal made the most of a terrible defensive lapse from Marika Koroibete to score a try down their right edge.
Then came the flashbacks to last week’s diabolical 40-6 loss against Wales.
Australia went for another penalty – it went wide on this occasion – before the floodgates opened, with tight-five players Richie Arnold, Dave Porecki and Bell all scoring tries of their own in a profitable and impressive seven-minute burst that opened up a 24-7 lead.
Porecki’s try came from a rolling maul and it was the first of its kind this year from nine Wallabies Tests.
With Australia ahead 29-7, Matt Faessler and Kerevi were shown yellow cards, which made life more difficult when victory looked all but assured.
Kerevi was given a 10-minute rest for shoving his forearm – while carrying the ball – into the face of a Portugal player, in similar scenes to his controversial yellow card against Wales four years ago at the World Cup.
Koroibete scored Australia’s last try in the 74th minute to get a bit of confidence into the group who know their chances of heading to Marseille for a quarter-final is slim to none.
Players will get three days off before returning to training. It will certainly be an unusual week.
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