Portugal and Spain followed in the footsteps of Romania and Georgia to open up their men’s Rugby Europe Championship campaigns with bonus point wins.
There was a Pool B thriller at the Estádio do Restelo in Lisbon on Saturday evening, Portugal eventually getting the better of Belgium 40-30.
The home side Portugal got off to a flying start and were 14-0 up early on thanks to tries from stand-off Joris Moura and winger Rodrigo Marta which were both converted by scrum-half Samuel Marques.
Belgium were a bit shellshocked, but fought back very well to make it 14-13 after 24 minutes.
Those points came from two penalties from stand-off Hugo De Francq and a try by centre Florian Remue which De Francq converted.
Portugal responded in what as becoming an end-to-end match with tries from winger Vincent Pinto and second-row Jose Rebelo De Andrade with Marques converting the latter.
That had made it 26-13, but Belgium got a crucial second try on the board before half-time.
The scorer this time was second-row Maximilien Hendrickx and the conversion from De Francq made it 26-20 at the break and it was certainly ‘game on’.
The first points of the second period came six minutes in when Marta scored his second and Marques converted to make it 33-20 to Portugal.
Things then got worse for Belgium when loosehead prop Charles-Henri Berguet was yellow carded and Portugal took full advantage.
When the front-rower was off, Portugal extended their lead to 40-20 when Moura bagged his second try and Marquese converted.
On the hour mark Belgium reduced the deficit to 17 points thanks to a penalty from De Francq and, with 10 minutes to go, they got a try via replacement tighthead prop Jean-Baptiste Declercq.
De Francq converted and late on Portugal had second-row Jose Madeira yellow carded, but the home side held on to win.
In Pool A on Sunday afternoon, there was delight for the home crowd at the Estadio Central UCM in Madrid as Spain got past Netherlands 53-24.
The Netherlands took the lead early on thanks to a penalty from stand-off Vikas Meijer before Spain centre Gonzalo Lopez Bontempo levelled things up with three points of his own.
There was then a big moment in the game when, thanks to their forward power, Spain were awarded a seven-point penalty try and visiting hooker Robbie Coetzee was yellow carded.
Lopez then missed a penalty, but when Coetzee was off his side did take advantage with tries by scrum-half Estanislao Bay and No.8 Raphaël Nieto with Lopez Bontempo converting both to make it 24-3.
That left Netherlands with a mountain to climb, but, back to 15 men, they did manage to get the next score just before the half hour mark.
Back-row Tim De Jong was the scorer and Meijer’s conversion made it 24-10.
That just seemed to annoy Spain though because before half-time they bagged their fourth try via hooker Santiago Ovejero. Lopez Bontempo nailed the conversion and they were 31-10 up at the interval.
Netherlands had to score first in the second period if they were to have any chance of winning tis game, but straight after the interval it was Spain who scored.
After a good chase and pressure after a kick ahead it was Bay getting his second try which Lopez Bontempo converted which made it 38-10.
A Lopez Bontempo penalty then made it 41-10 and Spain were in control.
Their sixth try of the day came just before the hour mark when replacement hooker Álvaro García powered over in the corner. Lopez Bontempo converted and it was 48-10.
With 14 minutes to go, sub front-row Shane Fikken scored a try for Netherlands and fellow replacement David Weersma converted.
Two minutes later winger Gauthier Minguillon set up sub Martin Mateu for Spain’s seventh try. It was not converted and it was 53-17.
Late on Netherland’s had the last say with a try which looked like it was from sub Spike Salman from close range converted by Meijer as things ended 53-24.
The eight-team event, which began with Romania beating Germany 48-10 and reigning champions Georgia thumping new boys Switzerland 110-0, continues with two matches on February 8 and two matches on February 9.
- In the men’s Rugby Europe Conference competition on Saturday, Andorra defeated Israel 31-28 in a cracking contest at the Estadi National in Andorra la Vella.
It leaves Andorra second in Pool D and Israel third with the event resuming in April.
By Gary Heatly
