Portugal closer to the Rugby World Cup after Romania’s defeat by Georgia
Portugal was this Saturday closer to qualifying for the Rugby World Cup, after Romania’s defeat at home, against Georgia, by 26-23, a result that the Romanians almost out of the fight for direct qualification.
The second place in the qualifying zone is now more within reach of Spain or Portugal, who currently share the position, with 25 points, and will face each other on Sunday at 11:45 (Lisbon time) at the Central Stadium of the University Madrid Complutense.
To get the second and consequent direct qualification for France ‘2023, the Portuguese team in Madrid now has Madrid on the ninth and penultimate round of qualifying and hope that the Spaniards cannot win in Georgia, on the 20th of March. .
The game in the Spanish capital is the last of the wolves, as Russia, who strayed from the last round, were removed from qualification after the military invasion of Ukraine and World Rugby four points ahead of all the last teams that still had to face the ‘bears’.
The Spaniards, on the other hand, qualify automatically if they beat Portugal, but even in the event of a defeat, they can keep qualifying open for a trip to Tbilisi, as long as they don’t let Portugal benefit.
In that title, he will have to win with an offensive bonus on the ground of Georgia, which after winning today in Bucharest needs to defeat the Spaniards to revalidate the European champion in 2022.
Practically out of the fight for direct qualification, it stayed in Romania, which, by not getting more than one defensive bonus point today, goes on to add 23 points in fourth place and can only qualify directly if Portugal and Spain draw on Sunday and the Spaniards lose on the last round.
In this case, they will have to win the Low Country Bonus Points, on the journey that all exclusive bookings in the last two years.
The first two places in aggregate from the 2021 and 2022 European Championships qualify for the 2023 World Cup.