Respect for Australia has sunk so low that people ask the coach of winless Portugal, “Think you can beat them?”
Patrice Lagisquet wishes.
He smiles at the cheek of the question. He knows that even though the Wallabies are down and almost out of the Rugby World Cup, they still pose a formidable challenge for his team on Sunday in Saint-Etienne.
“It’s fantastic to hear everyone say, ‘Do you think you can win?’” Lagisquet says. “But don’t forget we are the 16th nation in the ranking and will play a team used to playing at a higher level with very good players and a very good coach.
“If we are very lucky, maybe we will have a little chance. But don’t forget they won by 20 points against Georgia, who we just drew with. But I am proud of what we do and consider that we will play one of the best teams in the world even if they are not at their best at the moment.”
Meanwhile, defending champion South Africa can secure a quarterfinal place on Sunday in Marseille with a bonus-point win against Tonga, which needs its own bonus-point win to stay in the running.
AUSTRALIA vs. PORTUGAL (First meeting)
As long as the Wallabies beat Portugal with a bonus point, they will hang around France for another week waiting on the outcome of the Fiji-Portugal game, the last of the pool stage.
Fiji beat Georgia 17-12 on Saturday without a bonus point, leaving Australia’s threadbare quarterfinal hopes alive. But Fiji needs only one point against Portugal to advance from Pool C and confirm Australia’s earliest exit ever.
Even so, the Wallabies seek some consolation redemption in their first ever match with Portugal.
The losses to Fiji and Wales over the last two weekends have gone down in history, but Australia has never lost more than two matches at a tournament.
A misfiring attack has tallied only six tries in France, and hasn’t tested the edge often enough. To that end, the Wallabies hope new centers Lalakai Foketi and Izaia Perese can get a flow going in their first test together, in a Waratahs spine with flyhalf Ben Donaldson and wing Mark Nawaqanitawase.
Indiscipline is another big issue. Australia has conceded 37 penalties after three rounds, second most among all teams. Nearly half of the points it has allowed, 47%, have come from penalties.
Perhaps fortunately for them, Portugal doesn’t have a world-class goalkicker. Also, Lagisquet says he had to change four of his pack after the 18-18 draw with Georgia because players were tired. They’re not used to three high-level matches on consecutive weekends, and they finish against Fiji next weekend.
“We know we are not as powerful as the Australian team, far from that,” Lagisquet says. “We must just keep focused on what we can do and compete.”
SOUTH AFRICA vs. TONGA (South Africa leads 2-0 overall, 1-0 in RWC)
The Springboks march to the beat of their own drum. The 7-1 bench. Traffic lights. Players in the coaches’ box. And now, for their last pool outing they have to win, 12 changes who have complete trust from the coaches that the job will be done against Tonga.
“We don’t have any A and B, we just know that we have 33 players who can pitch up every day when they’re given an opportunity,” assistant coach Mzwandile Stick says.
They’re not underestimating Tonga, either. Not with what’s at stake.
“We can’t talk about the playoffs, because if we don’t win, there are no playoffs,” Stick says. “And we don’t want to rely on other teams’ results.”
To ensure any problems can be fixed on the field, forwards Eben Etzebeth, Jasper Wiese and Siya Kolisi, who leads the Springboks for the 50th time, start again after the narrow loss to Ireland last weekend.
They are also using the game to get emergency replacement Handre Pollard up to speed. He enters his first test in 13 months with only 30 recent minutes of club rugby since he was injured in May. The Boks need him to tune his flyhalf play and goalkicking radar after their goalkicking woes against Ireland.
Tonga has been disappointing in defeats by Ireland (59-16) and Scotland (45-17). The forwards have been outworked and overwhelmed and unable to give a star-studded backline enough front-foot ball. The lineout has been messy and the defense porous. Their best chance of a win is next weekend against Romania.
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