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That was until Rodrigo Marta popped up with a late try to swing the match back in Portugal’s favour and Samuel Marques held his nerve with the conversion. With the seconds ticking down, Portugal dug the ball out of the ruck and booted it into touch to celebrate a magnificent victory on the big stage.<\/p>\n
Emotions were running high as they celebrated jubilantly, sprinting around the pitch and hugging each other emphatically. Os Lobos’ fans cheered on their heroes as if they had won the tournament and the tears streaking down their players’ faces would have done little to suggest otherwise, but this was an important step in their country’s rugby history.<\/p>\n
Openside flanker Nicolas Martins hailed the efforts of his team-mates in clinching a ‘historic’ victory and labelled the win as the best thing to happen in his life. He said after the game: \u201cWe worked a lot for that. It\u2019s historic, I\u2019m so happy. It\u2019s the best moment of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
DON’T MISS <\/strong> While most nations would perhaps feel some joy for Portugal at breaking their duck, England may have felt some relief inside their camp in Le Touquet. Had Fiji lost by an eight-point margin in Sunday’s enthralling fixture, the Pacific islanders would have been knocked out.<\/p>\n In that scenario, England would have faced 2015 runners-up Australia, managed by their former coach Eddie Jones, but Fiji’s late revival sent the Wallabies packing.<\/p>\n Steve Borthwick’s side topped the group with four wins from four, but they were far from their best in their final match of the group stage, scraping past Samoa 18-17 on Saturday afternoon in Lille.<\/p>\n They now face a Fiji side who will be itching to put things right after their narrow defeat, no thanks to Portugal’s 15 heroes.<\/p>\n
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