Paul O'Connell's Ireland make history by putting a tonne on Portugal in Lisbon

Irish Examiner

a day ago

Portugal 7 Ireland 106
Paul O'Connell's second-string Ireland produced a record Test victory for the national men's team with a 16-try, 99-point spanking of a hapless Portuguese side at a picturesque Estadio Nacional on Saturday evening.
A huge Irish contingent made up a major part of what was an estimated 8,000 crowd in a 37,000-capacity stadium where Jock Stein's Celtic had won their European Cup back in 1967.
Not so much Lisbon Lions here as lambs to a slaughter.
The scorers? We'll keep that as simple as possible.
1st half: Stuart McCloskey, Hugh Gavin, Tommy O'Brien, Shayne Bolton, Tommy O'Brien, Thomas Clarkson, Bolton, Gavin.
2nd half: Craig Casey, Cian Prendergast, Calvin Nash, Ciaran Frawley, Prendergast, Alex Kendellen, Ben Murphy, penalty try.
This always looked like a mismatch, even with so many of Ireland's players, coaches and staff on duty in Australia with the British and Irish Lions. It wasn't long before we were reaching for the record books.
Ireland's biggest win prior to this was an 83-3 hockeying of the USA in New Hampshire in 2003. Portugal's worst defeat before now had come four years later at the World Cup in Lyon where they lost 108-13 to the All Blacks.
Add in Ireland's stroll against Georgia in Tbilisi last weekend and it all adds up to a two-match mini-tour of highly questionable value for a shadow touring side that handed out nine Test debuts in the absence of so many frontline stars.
The cliché with games like this is to suggest that it was no more than a glorified training session, but then Portugal had given Andy Farrell's Ireland a right old scare during a behind-closed-doors game before the last World Cup.
They've fallen off a cliff since.
It took Ireland less than a minute to get off the mark, McCloskey doing the honours. Tone set. Seven more five-pointers followed in the first-half alone, by the end of which the visitors were 52-0 to the good.
The ease with which most of the scores came, even the early efforts, was embarrassing. Just awful. Any semblance of a defensive line crumbled at the merest of prods or probes, vast acres of turf were there for gambolling all evening long.
Portugal didn't help themselves with some risky stuff out of their own third. and there were rare glimpses of the flowing rugby that so captured the eye and the imagination at the last World Cup in France where they beat Fiji.
Full-back Nuno Sousa Gedes was involved in much of what they did manage. It was the 15 who ran under the posts off the back of a clever crosskick from his ten and dizzying feet from Victor Pinto out wide. The problem was a forward pass and it was ruled out.
Worse was to follow when Portugal's captain Tomas Appleton was stretchered off after lengthy treatment for what appeared to be a bad ankle injury, and his replacement followed shortly after coming on. All this well before the half-time pause in punishment.
It never rains but it pours. The torrent continued on the restart.
The only shaft of light for Portugal was a try for their openside Nicolas Martins after 53 minutes but it was a score off the back of a lineout maul from Alex Kendellen that took Ireland past the record margin set in the States 22 years ago.
Ben Murphy's converted effort took them to the 99-mark with three minutes to go. They brought the ton up at the very last with English referee Adam Leal awarding a penalty try off a lineout maul in the corner.
History made, but what a tough watch.
Portugal: N Sousa Guedes; S Bento; V Pinto, T Appleton, M C Pinto; H Aubry, H Camacho; D Costa, L Begic, D H Ferreira; A R Andrade, P Ferreira; D Wallis, N Martins, D Pinheiro.
Replacements: G Aviragnet for Appleton (21); F Almeida for Aviragnet (33); G Costa for Andrade (50); M Souto for Begic and A Cunha for Costa (both 57); PS Lopes for Begic (57); AR Andrade for Ferreira (60); V Baptista for Pinheiro 62).
Ireland: J O'Brien; T O'Brien, H Gavin, S McCloskey, S Bolton; J Crowley, C Casey; J Boyle, G McCarthy, T Clarkson; T Ahern, D Murray; R Baird, A Kendellen, C Prendergast.
Replacements: M Deegan for Baird, M Milne for McCarthy, T Stewart for Boyle, T O'Toole for Clarkson and C Frawley for McCloskey (all 52); C Nash for T O'Brien (54); C Izuchukwu for Murray (60); B Murphy for Casey (61).
Referee: A Leal (RFU).