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Irish Examiner
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Paul O'Connell: 'These guys are capable of taking on stronger opposition'
Portugal 7 Ireland 106 Saturday started with Scotland slipping to defeat against Fiji in Suva. It ended with England claiming a series win at the expense of Argentina in San Juan. Wales broke an 18-game winless run in Japan in between, a second-string French team sucked up some hard lessons in defeat to New Zealand, while Italy were outclassed by 14 against the Springboks. Some of those exercises were more worthwhile than others. Every one of them was of infinitely more value to the Six Nations sides involved than this cringe of an occasion at the Estadio Nacional on the outskirts of the Portuguese capital where Paul O'Connell's romped to a record win for an Irish men's Test team. Sixteen tries were scored against a host playing its first game for four months, and its last for another four. A side made up mostly of part-timers, the majority of them had prepared by playing in a local league the last 10 weeks that wouldn't match the AIL on its best day. Portugal coach Simon Mannix said that they had been basically trying to 'bluff' it. 'Yeah, the opposition could have been stronger, for sure,' said O'Connell when asked if it would have served Ireland better to be put to the pin of their collar in Tokyo or Buenos Aires. 'These guys are definitely capable of taking on stronger opposition, but it is what it is.' The stand-in Ireland head coach had by that stage already lamented the lack of a third summer run for an inexperienced squad that has been operating without so many players, coaches and backroom staff as a result of the secondments to the British and Irish Lions expedition in Australia. The original plan had been for a third Test in Bucharest against Romania but then the Eastern Europeans are still digesting a record loss to another Tier 2 nation this week having gone down 70-8 to Uruguay in Montevideo. That Ireland won't be crossing their paths is no small mercy for all concerned. It's no wonder then that O'Connell found himself waxing lyrical about the benefit of the tour in a wider sense, focusing in on the worth to young players of being in camp for a month and exposed to the jargon and the culture and the workrate and leadership of men like captain Craig Casey and Ryan Baird. The Munster legend, while reluctant to pick out individuals who have impressed, explained how Finlay Bealham, now with the Lions after a late call-up, has benefited by singling out areas of his game and prep that others do well and tapping them up for pointers when in the national camp environs. 'That's been a big thing for us. We see it on the Emerging [Ireland] tours, they just need an opportunity, whether it is with Ireland or with their provinces. There are some very, very good players and they just have to gain the experience. 'They have to play a game, review it, train. Play a game again, be reviewed and accumulate. That's what a lot of our frontliners are doing with their provinces and Ireland: they are playing games and reviewing it and putting that into place. Others just need that chance.' Boil it all down and Ireland scored 140 points and 20 tries over the last two weekends while conceding two. There were nine Test debuts handed out with Shayne Bolton, Hugh Gavin and Alex Kendellen, the three newbies in Lisbon, all getting on the scoresheet two days ago. To be fair to Ireland, they never stopped playing their game their way in the face of a paper-thin Portuguese defence. Time and again teams have lost their shape and their focus in such circumstances. Not here, not even with the beach within touching distance, almost literally and figuratively, at the end of such a long campaign. Whatever about the opposition, it's been good to see the likes of Bolton, Tommy O'Brien, Ben Murphy and Alex Kendellen wearing green jerseys at this grade while people like Casey, Jimmy O'Brien and Ryan Baird got to step up to roles of seniority. It's not yet confirmed if there will be another Emerging Ireland tour next season. O'Connell touched on the strains the concept can cause provinces and coaches while extolling the virtues of the time benefits to be accrued by those in need of such training wheels on the road to better things. Simon Easterby, his colleague on Andy Farrell's staff, has taken the head role on previous such ventures and challenged players involved to put their hands up for squads to follow come the November and Six Nations windows. O'Connell would do the same while painting this as a picture with a greater measure of depth. 'It's not just about that first game up [against New Zealand in Chicago in November], it's about the next two years.' 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).
Belfast Telegraph
13-07-2025
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Records fall in Ireland's thrashing of Portugal, but Ulster stars have little to show for after tour
For all the positivity around this Ireland squad minus it's hefty British and Irish Lions contingent, the opposition for this two-game tour have not exactly been near the money with Portugal barely providing any form of opposition in this ridiculously one-sided affair in Lisbon. In fairness, Portugal were never likely to be equipped to put it up to Paul O'Connell's selection and so it proved, the visitors scoring with ease and managing to rack up a few new Irish Test records; the scoreline at 106-7, the winning margin of 99 points, along with Ireland's 16 tries and 12 conversions via Jack Crowley's boot.
13-07-2025
- Sport
Ireland scores 106 against Portugal in record-breaking rugby match
LISBON, Portugal -- Paul O'Connell's sympathy for Portugal only went so far. After watching the Ireland rugby team he's nursing thrash Portugal by a record 106-7 on Saturday, the stand-in coach admitted he felt sorry for the home side. The 16-try victory surpassed the 83-3, 13-try win over the United States in 2000 and set Ireland records for most points, most tries and biggest margin. Ireland did it without 17 of its British and Irish Lions. 'I feel sorry for Portugal but we were very clinical and took our chances," O'Connell told Virgin Sports. 'It is a unique summer tour given the Lions tour is on at the same time, but I am very happy with how our squad applied themselves. It is great to get some guys capped and scoring tries and training in an international environment.' There were 11 different try-scorers for Ireland, including doubles for debutants Hugh Gavin and wing Shayne Bolton and one for debutant flanker Alex Kendellen. Flyhalf Jack Crowley nailed 12 of 15 conversion attempts. There was one penalty try. Portugal was playing Ireland for the first time. It was also Os Lobos' first test since March, when it finished fourth in the Rugby Europe Championship. Ireland next faces New Zealand in Chicago on Nov. 1.
Fox Sports
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Ireland scores 106 against Portugal in record-breaking rugby match
Associated Press LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Paul O'Connell's sympathy for Portugal only went so far. After watching the Ireland rugby team he's nursing thrash Portugal by a record 106-7 on Saturday, the stand-in coach admitted he felt sorry for the home side. The 16-try victory surpassed the 83-3, 13-try win over the United States in 2000 and set Ireland records for most points, most tries and biggest margin. Ireland did it without 17 of its British and Irish Lions. 'I feel sorry for Portugal but we were very clinical and took our chances," O'Connell told Virgin Sports. 'It is a unique summer tour given the Lions tour is on at the same time, but I am very happy with how our squad applied themselves. It is great to get some guys capped and scoring tries and training in an international environment.' There were 11 different try-scorers for Ireland, including doubles for debutants Hugh Gavin and wing Shayne Bolton and one for debutant flanker Alex Kendellen. Flyhalf Jack Crowley nailed 12 of 15 conversion attempts. There was one penalty try. Portugal was playing Ireland for the first time. It was also Os Lobos' first test since March, when it finished fourth in the Rugby Europe Championship. Ireland next faces New Zealand in Chicago on Nov. 1.
Irish Examiner
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Paul O'Connell's Ireland make history by putting a tonne on Portugal in Lisbon
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).
