Portuguese rugby’s future is bright.
Article by: Nuno Madeira do O
If, three years ago, one was to ask any Portuguese rugby fan to imagine that the Portuguese national team was close to qualifying to the next rugby world cup (France, 2023) and that the Lusitanos XV were top of their pool, also almost qualified to the semi-finals of the Rugby Europe Super Cup, there would be few people that could believe it was possible.
The year was 2018, and in Heidelberg (Germany), the home nation (after Spain and Romania had been given sanctions for fielding ineligible players) had just defeated Portugal in the first match of the 2019 world cup qualifier, to be played in Japan.
On the pitch, Portugal seemed uninspired and after being defeated by a very average German team, they were out, once again, of the Rugby World Cup.
About one year later, Portugal got promoted to the Rugby Europe Championship (the second tier of European rugby) and Patrice Lagisquet grabbed the reins of the national team. With 46 caps for France, he had been considered the best coach in France in 2006, after guiding Biarritz to back-to-back titles in 2006. His goal: to qualify Portugal for the 2023 World Cup. With him, the Portuguese players that play in France (Top14 and ProD2) returned to the national team and everything changed.
From the 2018 match against Germany, the only thing left are the memories and nowadays the Portuguese team plays a flashy and fast type of rugby, full of support lines capable of offloading the ball and maintaining the high tempo. Proof of the team’s quality is the fact that they can stand their ground against teams with other arguments, like Japan, as seen during the Autumn Internationals.
The national team, (well) captained by Tomas Appleton, is very consistent and builds its rugby around a mix of experienced players like Mike Tadjer (Perpignan), Samuel Marques (Carcassonne) and Rafael Simões (CDUL) and young stars-to-be like José Madeira (Grenoble), Raffaele Storti (Stade Français Espoirs), Rodrigo Marta (Belenenses), Jerónimo Portela (Direito) or Nuno Sousa Guedes (CDUL).
Portugal put the first points on the board through a penalty converted by the scrum-half Samuel Marques (16th minute) Portugal is currently 3rd in the Rugby Europe Championship, with the same points as Romania that occupies the 2nd place. This would take Portugal to a qualifier and “all” it would take for Portugal to be in France in 2023 was to repeat in 2022 what they did in 2021. Ideally, the team would finish 2nd on the group (it’s almost impossible to catch Georgia that currently sits comfortably in 1st place) and qualify directly to pool B, where they would play in Bordeaux, Paris and Lille against Ireland, Scotland and the current World Champions, South Africa.
Lusitanos XV
2021 also saw a new Rugby Europe competition being born: the Rugby Europe Super Cup and with it, the Lusitanos XV were reborn. This team, also coached by Patrice Lagisquet, can only field players that play in Portugal and has won the four matches it played so far. It is top of a group that also has the Iberians (Spain), Delta (Netherlands), and Devils (Belgium).
This competition allows Patrice Lagisquet to give minutes in an international context to young players that otherwise, would only have the possibility to play at a national level. So far, it has shown that players like Jorge Abecassis, Pedro Leal, José Santos or Xavier Cerejo (the last two, regulars on the u20 team that recently lost the final of the Rugby Europe Championship against Spain) are ready to step up in the national team when necessary.
We are still waiting for the 2022 Rugby Europe Championship fixtures but the Lusitanos XV play the Brussels Devils on the 4th December, in Lisbon, a match that will likely seal their qualification to the semi finals of the Rugby Europe Super Cup.
Future looks bright to Portuguese Rugby and its ever-growing fan base have high and legitimate hopes to be in France in 2023, cheering for their team, in what would be only the second World Cup for Portuguese rugby.
