New Zealand crush Portugal 108-13
15-Sep-2007
In a match which saw 17 tries in total, New Zealand's All Blacks crushed Rugby World Cup newcommers Portugal 108-13 in their Pool C match at the Stade Gerland in Lyon on Saturday.
The first 20 minutes saw several mistakes by the All Blacks and although they were winning, they were by no means walking over Portugal. Joe Rokocoko scored the first try after 3 minutes and followed that up with another in the 12th minute. Then after Os Lobos' Gonçalo Malheiro intercepted a pass and later scored a dropgoal, the All Blacks seemed to fire up and returned with a slurry of tries - 6 of them in the space of 15 minutes, putting the halftime score at 52-3.
The second half once again saw the All Blacks start off a little slowly. Portugal made a series of drives at the NZ line and they were eventually rewarded with a try by prop Rui Cordeiro - to the excitement of players and fans alike. But seeing Portugal score seemed to fire up the All Blacks again and they came back with a try of their own moments later.
Portugal made New Zealand work hard for the next several minutes but they were unable to score. Once the All Blacks were back in control of the ball they embarked on another try-scoring frenzy, with 6 tries in about 20 minutes, edging over 100 points to finish the match at 108-13.
Related articles:
|
