Wales v Portugal: Warren Gatland’s side to ease to back-to-back wins

Dylan Coetzee
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Split with Wales skipper Dewi Lake and Portugal captain Tomas Appleton.

Split with Wales skipper Dewi Lake and Portugal captain Tomas Appleton.

Another weekend of Rugby World Cup action is upon us and this round has some interesting clashes, with some teams starting their campaigns whilst others go again.

That is the case for this Test as Wales come off a brutally physical clash with Fiji where the Pacific side very nearly stole it from under their noses. However, the Welsh bagged the points and move on to Portugal this week.

Portugal returns to the World Cup for their second appearance at a global showpiece and their first since 2007, which was also based in France.

The European side did well to qualify for rugby’s premier tournament and will be raring to go after watching the first weekend unfold from the comfort of their hotel.

Warren Gatland has made 13 changes to the team that played against Fiji and even despite the new-look line-up Wales has a nice mix of experience and youth, as hooker Dewi Lake gets the honour of captaining his country at a World Cup.

The first Portuguese side of the tournament will be up against it in Nice but they will be looking to rattle the Welsh camp as much as possible.

What they said

Wales fly-half Dan Biggar copped some criticism for his rant over teammates not clearing the ball on their line against Fiji. He responded brilliantly in his Daily Mail column.

“I woke up to plenty of messages about the mouthful I gave to my good mates George North and Nick Tompkins at the end of the first half,” he wrote.

“It was a build-up of frustration because we had gifted Fiji some pretty easy territory. Our plan was that when the ball gets turned over in transition then we need to shift it.

“On a couple of occasions we did not do that and we got turned over so the boys were obviously trying to correct that, but it was the wrong time and the wrong place.

“You need some context and when you are on your own line in the last play of the half against Fiji, you need to get the ball off the pitch. I was furious we did not have the calmness to just hoof it into the stands because we were under the pump.

“I know some people have had a pop at me about the way I spoke but I could not care less. I really do not care what people think of me. If it happened tomorrow I would do it again.”

Players to watch

The wings for Wales, Louis Rees-Zammit and Rio Dyer, are an incredibly exciting pair, both absolutely loaded with pace which will be tough for Portugal to handle. Rees-Zammit has his place more nailed down than Dyer, who will be desperate to show Gatland what he can do.

In the pack, Exeter Chiefs behemoth Christ Tshiunza is a very promising youngster who has shown glimpses of what he can do at Test level. His physicality is impressive, it is a good game for him to lay down a marker and try to push for more game time.

For Portugal one does not have to look past their skipper Tomas Appleton for a player to watch and he looks to skipper a team that will all be making their World Cup debuts. Big responsibility for the centre who will need to lead by example throughout.

Wing Vincent Pinto is no stranger to playing in France having represented the host country at age group levels including a World Rugby U20 Championship title in 2019. He will certainly be one to keep an eye on.

Prediction

As good as an underdog story is for the intrigue of the game it will not be the case in this one. Wales come off a positive win and have more quality across the park than their opponents, who will struggle to keep up. Wales by 40.

Previous results

1994: Wales won 102-11

The teams

Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Mason Grady, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Dafydd Jenkins, 4 Christ Tshiunza, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Sam Costelow, 23 Josh Adams

Portugal: 15 Nuno Sousa Guedes, 14 Vincent Pinto, 13 Jose Lima, 12 Tomas Appleton (c), 11 Rodrigo Marta, 10 Jeronimo Portela, 9 Samuel Marques, 8 Rafael Simoes, 7 Nicolas Martins, 6 Joao Granate, 5 Steevy Cerqueira, 4 José Madeira, 3 Anthony Alves, 2 Mike Tadjer, 1 Francisco Fernandes
Replacements: 16 Raffaele Storti, 17 Joris Moura, 18 Pedro Lucas, 19 David Wallis, 20 Martim Belo, 21 Diogo Hasse Ferreira, 22 Lionel Campergue, 23 David Costa

Date: Saturday, 16 September
Venue: Stade de Nice, Nice
Kick-off: 16:45 local (15:45 BST, 14:45 GMT)
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce (England), Andrea Piardi (Italy)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

READ MORE: Ireland v Tonga preview: Andy Farrell’s side to charge to second World Cup win

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