NICE, France (AP) — Wales scored a bonus-point fourth try in the last play to beat Portugal 28-8 without ever completely subduing the feisty underdog appearing in its first Rugby World Cup game in 16 years on Saturday.
No. 8 Taulupe Faletau came off the back of the scrum and rumbled through three tired Portugal tackles for the final try in the 83rd minute, which ensured Wales came away with maximum points even if it didn't totally dominate the Pool C game the way it expected.
Louis Rees Zammit opened the try count for the Welsh in the ninth minute, and marked his kick-and-chase score on the right wing with a version of Cristiano Ronaldo's famous siuuu! leap and land celebration — a cheeky take on Portugal's most famous sports star.
Hooker and captain for the day Dewi Lake drove over after taking a tap penalty from close range but that second Wales try came only right at the end of the half.
Regular skipper Jac Morgan, called into the team during the warmup to replace Tommy Reffell at openside flank, got Wales' third early in the second.
But Wales still didn't run away with it and the biggest cheer of the day in Nice came when Portugal pulled off a slick lineout trick that resulted in flanker Nicolas Martins scoring down the short side after an airborne Rafael Simoes flicked him the ball while still at the top of his jump.
The stadium erupted in delight.
“I’ve got to give full credit to Portugal. I thought they were brilliant today,” Morgan said. “They brought that physicality and really tested us at a few times in that game. They were very good.”
Portugal finished the game with 14 men after right wing Vincent Pinto was given a yellow card and the incident put on review when he jumped for a catch and stuck a leg out which caught Wales’ Josh Adams in the face.
Just after Faletau went over for the final try, word was passed back to referee Karl Dickson that Pinto's dangerous play was upgraded to a red card, putting a late downer on what was an uplifting display from one of the World Cup's outsiders.
Portugal, which has never won a World Cup game, was still highly praised for pushing a three-time semifinalist close.
“To be honest, we hoped to be even closer,” said Portugal coach Patrice Lagisquet, a celebrated former France winger. “We caught ourselves dreaming. Our hopes could have been alive for all 80 minutes.
“For a nation like Portugal here at this World Cup, to say we have bothered Wales is a nice thing to say.”
Pinto's was the third red card in the first 12 games in France.
England's Tom Curry got one in the first round of games and New Zealand's Ethan de Groot was red-carded on Friday night against Namibia. All three have come through rugby's new bunker review system, which allows officials to review a yellow card to see if it merits upgrading to red while the player is sitting in the sin-bin.
While Wales struggled to stamp its authority on its second game in France, the bottom line is it has 10 points from two matches to set the pace in Pool C ahead of Australia vs. Fiji on Sunday.
Wales was also bound to show some effects of the grueling 32-26 win over Fiji last weekend, when the Welsh made a staggering 237 tackles.
Coach Warren Gatland planned to start only two players from that game — Faletau and Rees Zammit — but Morgan went from getting a complete rest from any action to straight into the starting lineup when Reffell tweaked something in the warmup. Morgan went on to get player of the match.
Zammit's try came after Portugal had already threatened and its standout scrumhalf Samuel Marques hit the post with a penalty shot that should have given Os Lobos the lead.
Portugal brought a breath of fresh air to Nice, running the ball at nearly every opportunity and Martins could have had a try in the first half when fullback Nuno Sousa Guedes danced through the Welsh defense and passed inside. Faletau tracked back and pulled Martins down short.
Lake mowed his way through from a tap five meters out for 14-3 at halftime to the Welsh. When Morgan went over in the 57th, Wales was reasonably safe.
Portugal has only ever played in one Rugby World Cup before this, also in France in 2007, when they lost every game.
A mark of their progress might be in that Wales won the only previous meeting between them 102-11 ahead of the 1995 World Cup.
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