Australia keep their very slim chances at qualifying for the Quarter Finals alive with a bonus-point victory over Portugal this evening in what was a dramatic contest.

Australia’s chances of qualifying rely on Fiji losing to this Portuguese side next week in what promises to be a thrilling game, but the Wallabies might well have played their last game at this World Cup as they are without a game next week.

Desperate to get off the mark following their embarrassing defeat to Wales last week, Australia were desperate to get off to a good start in this game. They would open the scoring in the fourth minute thanks to a penalty kick from Ben Donaldson.

From there, however, Portugal grew into the game, spurred on by the passionate Portuguese fans in Saint Etienne. After a period of sustained pressure, and with penalty advantage, Portugal played the ball from left to right, before inside centre Tomas Appleton produced a wonderful skip pass to his centre partner Pedro Bettencourt on the right wing. The outside centre put on the afterburners and scored in the corner to lift the roof off the stadium. An excellent conversion kick from Samuel Marques would give Portugal a 4-point lead in the 12^th minute.

Bettencourt would go from hero to zero just three minutes later as he was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Izaia Perese. The centre was lucky after a bunker review the card was not upgraded to a red card, but the numbers advantage would prove costly for Portugal.

Within three minutes of the card, Australia would get over the try line through Richie Arnold. After a solid lineout, Angus Bell ran a dangerous cutting line right at the heart of the Portuguese defence. Rob Valetini would pick-and-go from the following ruck and was tackled just metres short of the try line. The number 8 then offloaded to Arnold, who ran a great supporting line, before dotting down for the score.

In the 21^st minute, following a strong Australian lineout, hooker Dave Porecki found himself at the base of a driving maul just metres out from the Portuguese try line. Porecki bided his time at the base of the maul and picked his moment to strike and broke off just two metres from the line. The hookers powered over Jeronimo Portela for Australia’s second try of this game.

Australia looked to punish Portugal more during their sin-bin period, and would do so just before Bettencourt was allowed back on the pitch. After a quick counter attack, carried out by the electric backline of the Wallabies, Australia found themselves deep within the Portuguese 22’. After a series of pick-and-go drives, prop Angus Bell ran a brilliant line to power over the try line for Australia’s third try of this game.

Three tries, and three conversions from Donaldson would see the Wallabies lead 24-7 at half-time, as they capitalised on the sin-bin period to perfection. Portugal showed no signs of letting up, however, as they scored a try in the corner in the 36^th minute, only for Nicolas Martins to have a leg in touch as he scored. Portugal refused to go down without a fight, but they were undone whilst down to 14 players.

Australia would get an all-important bonus-point try in the 47^th minute as Fraser McReight dotted over for an easy score thanks to the hard work of Tate McDermott and Mark Nawaqanitawase. With little cover on the Portuguese right flank, McDermott quickly passed to his winger, who dummied a pass, ran a metre to commit the single defender, before then passing to McReight on his right for an easy score.

Portugal would make life difficult for Australia for the rest of the game, and almost cut the deficit with a try of their own in the 59^th minute, however Mike Tadjer was deemed to have knocked the ball on and lost control before scoring a try. Australia would have Matt Faessler sent to the sin-bin for illegally dragging down the driving maul on multiple occasions. Dave Porecki, who thought his day was done, was then forced to come back on the pitch for scrum time.

Matters were made worse for the Wallabies when substitute Samu Kerevi was sent to the sin bin just two minutes later after he fended Tomas Aplleton off with his forearm to the head. Portugal, with a huge sway of momentum, would be unable to capitalise as their driving maul was held up over the line, and Australia could breathe a sigh of relief. Minutes later, Portugal would knock the ball in a dangerous position in the Australian 22’.

After banging on the door for 20 minutes, Portugal would finally get their second try, this time Rafael Simoes controlling the ball perfectly with his feet at the back of the scrum before picking it up to power over the try line. A conversion from Samuel Marques would reduce the deficit to 15 points with just under ten minutes to play.

Any chance of a Portuguese comeback was quickly nipped at the bud as Australia were back to a full compliment. A great line break from Samu Kerevi would split the Portuguese defence wide open. Two phases later, the ball worked its way to the left wing, where Marika Koroibete would pick up the ball at the base of the ruck and power over the try line to seal the win for Australia.

Neither side was willing to kick the ball out of play when the clock struck red, and as such they played until the 84^th minute, before a knock on would draw a conclusion to this game.

Portugal were scintillating, but were undone by a clinical ten-minute period from the Wallabies.

Full Time in Saint Etienne, Australia 34-14 Portugal