Não se previa algo diferente: os All Blacks venceram o jogo de Sábado com enorme facilidade. Os 108-13 não enganam ninguém. Estamos a milhas de distância das melhores equipas de raguebi. No entanto, foi uma experiência fantástica para os jogadores e terá sido uma oportunidade de aprender com os melhores.
Portugal tinha dois objectivos para este jogo (aparentemente simples...): não deixar a NZ fazer mais de 100 pontos e conseguir pelo menos um ensaio. O 2º objectivo foi conseguido mas deixámos os nossos adversários ultrapassar os 100 pontos.
Deixo aqui alguns comentários em jornais estrangeiros:
- 22 minutes. C’est le temps qu’aura résisté le Portugal face à l’ogre néo-zélandais. Rapidement épuisés après avoir tenu 12 à 3 en début de match, les Loups auront malgré tout vécu une expérience inoubliable contre la Nouvelle-Zélande à Gerland. «C’était incroyable. Quand on a marqué l’essai, j’ai vu les supporters portugais, français et même néo-zélandais nous applaudir», racontait l’ailier Antonio Aguilar. Surpuissants, les Blacks ont inscrit 16 essais, créant le 5e plus gros écart en Coupe du Monde (108-13). «Curieusement, nous n’avons pas souffert tant que ça sur les impacts car les Blacks ouvraient souvent le jeu en large. Mais ils nous ont fait courir, courir et encore courir. On n’en pouvait plus !», expliquait Aguilar. Avec un essai et un drop, le Portugal a tout de même gagné le respect de tout le monde avec une belle haie d’honneur dressée par les Blacks à l’issue de la rencontre.
- Consolation pour les Portugais : au bout de 14 rencontres, Gonçalo Malheiro a réussi le premier drop de cette Coupe du Monde à la 22e minute, soit la plus longue attente de l’histoire. Le pilier Rui Cordeiro, lui, a fait honneur à la communauté des vétérinaires en devenant le premier spécialiste des animaux à inscrire un essai dans un Mondial
It was always going to be hard not to see them as the romanticists' victors on the day, but Portugal's brave efforts in a 108-13 defeat to New Zealand on Saturday were wondrous.
Nearly fifty points adrift at half-time, the men in red came out for the second half with a few fresh faces and some new-found adrenaline, and brought the Stade Gerland to its feet with a try, followed by a sustained period of pressure in the ABs half of the field. But it was in the latter stages of each half where the differences between professionals and non-professionals came to the fore, with the All Blacks enjoying purple patches just before the break, and in the final ten minutes when Portugal's braves had shot their bolt. In the end, the try tally was every bit as comprehensive as we expected - 16-1 - but Portugal's players will have an unforgettable experience and moment to savour for the rest of their lives.
It was like shooting fish in a barrel. That may appeal to the New Zealand hooker Andrew Hore, who was once prosecuted for taking potshots at seals. Apparently it even appealed to large sections of a boisterous crowd of 40,729. But for the rest of us the only saving grace of such a daft mismatch was that no one was seriously hurt.
Of course the Portuguese don't see it that way. "Hang on," they say in glorious Cantona-ese, "We are the sardines who shot back. We scored a try, a conversion, a drop goal and a penalty goal against the mighty All Blacks. England could not score a point against South Africa. We scored 13."
That misses the point. The Portuguese hooker Joao Correia had to stand up out of three of the first four scrums because he couldn't take the pressure coming through. He then got his head in a bad position when trying to tackle Jerry Collins and was fortunate to avoid serious injury.
The Portuguese No 8 and captain Vasco Uva later made the same mistake when trying to tackle Sione Lauaki. Uva had to come off. An ice pack was applied to the back of his neck and we were thankful that it was just a frozen peas job rather than the ambulance and the neck brace.
That misses the point. The Portuguese hooker Joao Correia had to stand up out of three of the first four scrums because he couldn't take the pressure coming through. He then got his head in a bad position when trying to tackle Jerry Collins and was fortunate to avoid serious injury.
The Portuguese No 8 and captain Vasco Uva later made the same mistake when trying to tackle Sione Lauaki. Uva had to come off. An ice pack was applied to the back of his neck and we were thankful that it was just a frozen peas job rather than the ambulance and the neck brace.
