Match Centre: Rugby World Cup Pool C: Georgia 18-18 Portugal

Georgia 18-18 Portugal, Pool C, Stadium de Toulouse

Nuno Sousa Guedes missed a penalty in the closing stage as Georgia and Portugal settled for a 18-18 draw in the Pool C encounter of the Rugby World Cup at Stadium de Toulouse on Saturday.

Just as Portugal looked to edge away with a 13-18 victory, Tengizi Zamtaradze touched down in the 78th minute following a rolling maul but Luka Matkava missed out on the conversion which could have sealed the game for Georgia. With the scores levelled, replacement David Wallis won a penalty for Portugal but Guedes missed the landing forcing the teams to share the points equally.

It took Georgia just two minutes to open their account as Davit Niniashvili sent a perfect offload for Akaki Tabutsadze to go over the line with Tedo Abzhandadze kicking the conversion to make it 7-0.

As both the teams were desperate for seizing advantage, Portugal were penalised for an illegal entry at a ruck allowing Abzhandadze to kick a three-pointer stretching Georgia's lead to 10-0. Georgia thought they extended their lead further as Davit Niniashvili dotted down after collecting a loose ball but a knock on in the build up meant the score was disallowed.

With his second penalty shot in the 32nd minute, Abzhandadze extended Georgia's lead to 13-0 before Portugal finally responded with Raffaele Storti diving in the corner in the 34th minute but Samuel Marques' conversion hit the post leaving the scoreline 13-5.

Nevertheless, their momentum took a beating as Francisco Fernandes was sin-binned in the closing stage of the half-time for a high tackle.

Despite being a player down temporarily, Portugal did well to narrow down the gap as Marques scored his first points of the game through a penalty goal in the 48th minute before following with another three-pointer by the 53rd minute to make it a two-point game.

The game turned on its head with Storti completing his second try at the end of the third quarter after Martins dummied through and sending a pass for the Portugal wing to dot down. Marques once again was spot on with the conversion to make it 13-18.

The last quarter saw Georgia's launching attacks on Portugal, whose defence ensured they maintained their five point lead until the 78th minute when Zamtaradze crossed the whitewash before Matkava and Guedes missed the kicks for their respective sides which could have made the difference to the result.

Points Table: Pool C

Position	Team	Played	Won	Lost	Points
1	Wales	2	2	0	10
2	Fiji	2	1	1	6
3	Australia	2	1	1	6
4	Georgia	2	0	1	2
5	Portugal	2	0	1	2

What's Next:

Portugal will be facing the Wallabies next at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on Sunday while Georgia will be facing Fiji in Bordeaux on Saturday.

Match Reactions:

Portugal fly-half Jerónimo Portela rued the mistakes made by his side and is hoping to improve in the final two matches.

"It was very close, the last kick I really thought we could win," he said. "We made some mistakes, we will look at it and we will do better next time.

"We had a really good second half, we have made history, it is our first draw. We have worked since June to win this game, we have to keep going. We have two more matches.

"I want to thank all the Portuguese fans, all the people here today."

Team line up:

Georgia: Niniashvili; Tabutsadze, Kveseladze, Sharikadze (cap), Todua; Abzhandadze, Aprasidze; Nariashvili, Mamukashvili, Gigashvili, Chachanidze, Mikautadze, Jalagonia, Saginadze, Gorgadze.

Reserves: Zamtaradze, Gogichashvili, Papidze, Cheishvili, Tsutskiridze, Lobzhanidze, Matakava, Tapladze.

Portugal: Guedes; Storti, Bettencourt, Appleton (cap), Marta; Portella, Marques; Fernandes, Tadjer, Hasse Ferreira, Madeira, Cerquiera, Granate, Martins, Simoes.

Reserves: Costa, Campergue, Alves, Belo, Wallis, de Freitas, Lucas, Cardoso Pinto.