Raffaele Storti scored two tries to help Portugal to a 18-18 draw with Georgia on Saturday, but Nuno Sousa Guedes missed an injury-time penalty that would have handed them a first-ever Rugby World Cup victory.
Visit News24's Rugby World Cup 2023 zone for fixtures, pools, profiles, top stories The Georgians were unbeaten in their previous 18 Test matches against Portugal coming into the Pool C match at Toulouse, winning their most recent by a margin of 27 points in March.But Portugal, backed by a baying partisan crowd, were doughty in defence and expansive in attack, Storti grabbing his two opportunities with aplomb.There was drama to the end when replacement Georgia hooker Tengizi Zamtaradze was driven over to bring the scores level, but Luka Matkava pushed his touchline conversion wide.Georgia, who lost 35-15 to Australia in their opener, then infringed from the restart, but Guedes pushed his penalty effort wide to leave the scores level.There was an electric start to the match when Davit Niniashvili, the 21-year-old fullback who plays for Lyon in the Top 14, produced a fine step and one-handed offload to Akaki Tabutsadze.The Georgian winger duly crossed for the opening try after just 90 seconds at Toulouse Stadium and Tedo Abzhandadze converted.A knock-on by Guedes, under no real pressure, handed the advantage straight back to Georgia, Abzhandadze booting a penalty to extend the Lelos' lead.Gela Aprasidze had a try ruled out for an unfortunate knock-on of Tornike Jalagonia's pass as the Georgians dominated possession, camped out in the Portuguese half - they had only made 16 tackles in the opening 30 minutes.Abzhandadze spurned a second shot at the posts to go for the corner, but prop Francisco Fernandes was on hand to