The second stage of the Men’s 7s Rugby Europe Championship took place in Krakow, between the 1st and 3rd July.
Written by: Nuno Madeira do O
Portugal (who had placed 6th on the Lisbon Stage), was in Pool B, together with Spain (2nd), Italy (3rd), Lithuania (7th) and the hosts Poland (10th). Portugal had as an objective to qualify on the first two places (so it could access the semi-finals), a mission that didn’t seem easy for the players under Frederico Sousa.
On the first day, Portugal faced Italy and Lithuania, matches that ended up different for the Lusos. The first match saw Italy having more ball but Portugal defended exceptionally well and didn’t let the Italians leave their 22. With 2:30mins played, João Antunes finds a break and scores under the posts. To make matters worse for the Italian team, after the ball had been grounded, their captain hit the Portuguese player in the head and left his team momentarily down to six men.
Taking advantage of this, Portugal scored its second try through João Rosa, after a good play. With the clock on red, Italy would reach Portugal’s 22 for the first time but without real danger. At the break, Portugal led 12-0 and also had 75% ball possession.
The second half saw more of the same with Francisco Nobre and Francisco Galveias scoring two tries in less than two minutes. With the scoreboard on 22-0, the game seemed decided. However, with two minutes to go, Italy seemed to have awoken and scored two tries, reducing the advantage to 22-12, with one minute to play. They managed to score another try but it was too late and Portugal won 22-19.
The second match of the day was, in theory, easier than the first one, against Lithuania that was behind Portugal on the standings. However, Portugal never really found themselves and ended up conceding five tries, losing the game by 27-7. This result hindered Portugal’s ambitions and didn’t leave a lot of leeway for the second day of the competition.
On the second day, Portugal faced the hosts Poland and confirmed their favouritism, with a clear victory (24-5). João Antunes opened the hostilities with a try and it was he again who, after a good play, assisted João Rosa for another try.
With two and a half minutes to play, José Paiva dos Santos did an excellent chip and chase in the centre of the pitch that didn’t give any chance to the Polish defence and scored Portugal’s third try, putting the scoreboard on 17-0. The home team could only enter the Portuguese 22 with 40 seconds to play: following a Portuguese knock-on, Poland won the scrum and scored, sending everyone to the half-time break with 17-5 on the board.
Poland started with the ball on the second half but Portugal quickly got it back. Rodrigo Freudenthal, with two excellent side-steps, got rid of two defenders and ran about 70 meters to score unopposed. João Antunes converted and settled the final score 24-5.
The last match of the group stage saw Portugal facing Spain. The Spanish team was top of the group, with three victories in three matches. Due to the defeat against Lithuania, Portugal had to win, if they wanted to go through to the semi-finals.
The beginning of the match was perfect for Portugal that saw João Antunes score with 45 seconds of play, after an excellent kick and chase by Rodrigo Freudenthal. However, Spain took control of the match and scored three times before the break (5-19). This score anticipated a very tough second half for the Portuguese team.
The second half started how the first one had ended, with Spain controlling the operations. However, with about four minutes to play, Portugal stole a Spanish line-out, rotating the ball quickly to the left for an easy try (10-19). With three minutes to play, Francisco Meneres scored and gave Portugal a new lease of life: Rodrigo Freudenthal with the inside pass and the Portuguese player with a great sprint over 60 meters scored under the posts. Try converted and the scoreboard moved to 17-19.
With less than a minute to play, Spain controlled the match and had a scrum. When everything seemed to indicate that Portugal was going to lose, the captain Rodrigo Freudenthal gained the ball on the scrum, ran 60 meters and scored unopposed. Another converted try, victory for Portugal following a great comeback and first place in Pool B. This would ensure a semi-final clash against France that had finished Pool A behind Germany. Spain would also go through and would face the Germans on the other semi-final.
The semi-final against France started very clumsy, with penalties from both sides. With three minutes played, France gave away yet another penalty close to their 5m line and Diogo Sarmento, with a very quick tap and go scored the first try to the match. The match carried on with a lot of indiscipline and poor handling and, with the clock on zero, France scored on the right wing. Try not converted and at the break, Portugal was winning 7-5.
The second half started with Portugal on the offense and after a great break by Francisco Nobre, José Paiva dos Santos kicked the ball forward and grounded it under great pressure from the French defence. On the counter, France almost scored but a knock-on, invalidated that possibility. However, even though it was a Portuguese scrum, Portugal introduced the ball very poorly, allowing France to reach it and score. 14-12 for Portugal, with one minute to go.
With twenty seconds to go, and when Portugal seemed to have operations under control, France won a (badly protected) ruck, allowing Monin to escape through the gap and to score another try. 14-19 with nothing left on the clock and Portugal was out of the final.
In the bronze final, Portugal faced Germany – the team that had won the Lisbon Stage.
Once again, Portugal started the game on top and with three minutes played, after a great break by Rodrigo Freudenthal, that got rid of two defenders, Germany gives away a penalty. Diogo Sarmento, with another quick tap and go, caught everyone off-guard and scored Portugal’s first try.
With two minutes to play, after a great play, Germany found a gap in the Portuguese line and tied the match at seven. Once again, with the clock on zero, and after winning two penalties on Portugal’s 22, Germany scored on the wing and sent everyone to the break with 7-12 on the board.
The second half didn’t go in Portugal’s favour that, due to a very clumsy defensive line, conceded two more tries, moving the scoreboard to 7-24. The Portuguese team tried to react and scored another try by Frederico Couto but it was too late and the scoreboard showed the 14-24 to Germany.
Portugal finished the Krakow stage in 4th place which allowed them to finish the Rugby Europe Championship 6th overall, with the same points as Italy.
Linha de Ensaio spoke with Portugal’s captain Rodrigo Freudenthal about the tournament:
Sixth place in Lisbon and now fourth in Zagreb. How do you think that things went?
Our goal was to give more experience to our players, the majority of whom are very young. For most of them, this was their first tournament and for those who followed things, it was possible to see an evolution from the first stage to the second one. We finished ahead of teams that will be disputing the World Cup Qualifiers with us and to those whom we lost against, it was by a small margin. Our focus of on the experience rather than on the final classification, so we are very happy with how things turned out.
Against France, it seemed that Portugal had things under control but we ended up losing very close to the end. What happened?
It’s the kind of match that we need to be experienced to win. We were ahead, with two minutes to go and a scrum in our favour and we lost it due to our immaturity. I don’t think that France outplayed us but, in 7s, you make a mistake and you give the opponent hope (especially in a team like France, full of good players) and we went down psychologically. As we gain more experience, we will learn to avoid that situation and not to get nervous because there’s only one minute to go and we have to hold on. It was a bit frustrating for us.
Personally, how how this Championship for you?
I think that it went well. In the past two years I had a few injuries that prevented me from playing regularly but I fell my self-belief coming through. I fell that I helped the team, we were very united and evolved a lot between Lisbon and Zagreb. I hope that that evolution may continue going forward.
