Is it possible to "fill" a function argument, which defaults to null, with an object?

Say I have this method:

bool match( /* some optional parameter */ );

that will do some string pattern matching and I wanted to allow it to be given an optional parameter that will only be filled with an instance of a known type (Match) when the method match() returns true, would such a thing be possible?

In PHP I would be allowed to do:

public function match( Match &$match = null ) {
  if( someMatchingRoutineMatched() ) {
    $match = new Match();
    return true;
  }

  return false; // $match will stay null
}

And then call it like so:

// $test is some instance of the class that implements match()
// I don't have to declare $m up front, since it will be filled by reference
if( $test->match( $m ) ) {
  // $m would be filled with an instance of Match
}
else {
  // $m would be null
}

Is something similar possible in c++?

I have kind of gotten it to work with the following

bool match( Match*& match ) {
  if( /* something matches */ ) {
    match = new Match;
    return true;
  }

  return false;
}

... and then calling it like so:

Match* m = nullptr; // I wish I wouldn't have to declare this upfront as a nullptr
if( test.match( m ) ) {
  // a match occured, so m should no longer be a null pointer
  // but let's just make sure
  if( m != nullptr ) {
    // do something useful with m and afterwards delete it
    delete m;
  }
}

... however, this all feels a bit cumbersome. Furthermore I don't seem to be allowed to make the parameter optional like:

bool match( Match*& match = nullptr );

... since, I believe, references are not a allowed to be null, correct?

I hope you can see what I am trying to achieve and that you could give some insight in how I could go about achieving my goal, if it's at all possible to begin with, that is.