Missed penalty costs Portugal first World Cup win in thrilling draw with Georgia

Portugal came desperately close to a first-ever Rugby World Cup win only for Nuno Sousa Guedes’ 78th-minute penalty attempt to drift wide, as Georgia held on for a thrilling draw in Toulouse.

The two sides, who also a drew a Test in 2022, put on an entertaining spectacle in another Pool C match which delivered high drama.

Raffaele Storti, the 22-year-old wing, was Portugal’s star player, scoring two tries with electric pace to help turn around a 13-0 deficit.

Georgia had the brighter start, with the excellent full-back Davit Niniashvili at the heart of their best work as Aka Tabutsadze’s try and points from the boot of Tedo Adzhandadze gave Georgia a healthy lead. But then Portugal rallied, with the flanker Nicolas Martins and veteran scrum-half Samuel Marques excelling as Storti’s tries gave Portugal hope.

Jeronimo Portela’s offload then sent Storti clear for his second try to put Portugal ahead for the first time, with Marques’ converting.

Georgia, having lost their composure, found a way to level the scores after Tengiz Zamtaradze finished off a maul. But Luka Matvaka’s missed conversion left the score at 18-18, before Portugal struck from the restart, winning a breakdown penalty only for Guedes’ key effort to drift wide.

“At half-time we were lucky they led by eight points and we are still in it,” said Portugal head coach Patrice Lagisquet. “We can’t have such a bad half, let’s play your rugby. Be yourself. With that first half, the result is a good one for us.”

“That’s rugby, it isn’t one half,” Georgia coach Levan Maisashvili added. “We played really hard in the first half but in the second Portugal dominated everywhere.

“We know their team but we didn’t execute our opportunities when we had a chance. We lost a lot of balls today and lost at the breakdown.”

Match details

Georgia: Niniashvili; Tabutsadze, Kveseladze, Sharikadze (capt), Todua; Abzhandadze, Aprasidze; Nariashvili, Mamukashvili, Gigashvili; Chachanidze, Mikautadze; Jalagonia, Saginadze, Gorgadze
Replacements: Zamtaradze, Gogichashvili, Papidze, Cheishvili, Tsutskiridze, Lobzhanidze, Matkava, Tapladze
Portugal: Guedes; Storti, Bettencourt, Appleton (capt), Marta; Portela, Marques; Fernandes, Tadjer, Ferreira; Madeira, Cerqueira; Granate, Martins, Simoes
Replacements: Costa, Campergue, Alves, Belo, Wallis, de Freitas, Lucas, Pinto
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)