Fiji squeeze through to quarter-final date with England despite Portugal win

• Pool C: Fiji 23-24 Portugal
• Portugal win for first time at Rugby World Cup

A historic first World Cup win for Portugal, a place in the quarter-finals for Fiji and elimination for Eddie Jones’s Australia. But that barely tells the half of it. The final match of the World Cup pool stages proved to be the most entertaining with Rodrigo Marta’s try in the final minute giving Portugal the victory their approach to the tournament fully deserved.

Fiji’s losing bonus point ensures they go through in second place in their pool and will face England on Sunday in Marseille. For the second match running, however, they were outclassed for large spells and this time Portugal made them pay. Os Lobos have won hearts and minds throughout this tournament and now they have a victory to boot with Samuel Marques’ late conversion making sure of the one-point victory. Fiji can take solace from the fact that they are into the knockout stages for only the third time but they must make considerable improvements if they are to trouble England.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/qu2SmKT