Wales v Portugal: Rugby World Cup 2023 – live

I’m especially keen to see how Wales’ midfield combo of Johnny Williams and Mason Grady get on.

Turns out, so is Michael Aylwin. That’s just one fresh pairing picked out in this preview:

It’s been 16 years since Portugal were part of the Rugby World Cup. Back in 2007 Scotland put 55 past them, the All Blacks notched up 108 points and Italy breezed to a comfortable 31-5 win. Even against Romania they went down 14-10.

No one is seriously expecting them to land too many blows this time round but their skipper, Tomas Appleton, has stated that his team will set out to “inspire a nation”. No matter the result today, a strong show against one of the game’s top nations would do just that.

Portugal: Sousa Guedes; Pinto, Lima, Appleton (cap), Marta; Portella, Madeira; Cerqueira, Granate, Martins, Simoes.

Replacements: Costa, Campergue, Hasse Ferreira, Belo, Wallis, Lucas, Moura, Storti.

There are only two players in the starting XV that kicked off against Fiji. They are winger Louis Rees-Zammit and No. 8 Taulupe Faletau. My guess is that if Warren Gatland had enough men in reserve, he’d have changed them as well. Still, there’s plenty of experience out there and fly-half Gareth Anscombe will want to show off his talent with plenty of front-foot ball expected.

Wales: Halfpenny; Rees-Zammi, Grady, J Williams, Dyer; Anscombe, T Williams; Smith, Lake (cap), Lewis, Tshiunza, Jenkins, Lydai, Reffell, Faletau.

Replacements: Elias, Domachowski, Francis, Beard, Basham, Davies, Costelow, Adams.

It’s a good thing squads are made up of 33 players. It’s also a good thing that we now have a week between World Cup games. If either of those things weren’t true then Warren Gatland might have had to put on a pair of boots himself after the heroic performance of his team in the opening round.

Gatland has made 13 changes to the side that stood firm against Fijian resistance in a 32-26 victory. Across 80 gruelling minutes the men in red repelled 63 Fijian carries in their own 22 and made an astonishing 252 tackles. We can quibble over the way the game was reffed but that is an extraordinary effort against one of the most fearsome teams in the competition.

They’ll expect to play more ball today against a Portugal side that will show plenty of spirit but shouldn’t pose too many challenges.

This is an opportunity for some of the Welsh players on the fringe to stand up and make a claim for a starting berth against Australia and Georgia down the road.

As for Portugal, they’ll be fresh after sitting out of the opening round. This is is their first World Cup match since September 2007. They took the scenic route to get here and just edged out the USA on points difference after drawing with the Eagles 16-16 thanks to an 82nd penalty from Samuel Marques.

If they can demonstrate the same gumption this afternoon, they may inflict a few more bruises on Gatland’s boys.

My name is Dan. Do drop a line either on X or email. I’d love to hear from you.

More updates to follow. Kick off at 5:45pm local time/4:45pm BST.