International Window
We are only a few days away from the international window and, with them the return from the Portuguese National teams. Let’s look at what both teams can expect.
Written by: Nuno Madeira do O
Portugal v Finland, 3pm, Jamor (Lisbon)
The Portuguese Women’s team has had an amazing second breath of life. After defeating Belgium in their first ever official match, the team coached by João Moura, defeated Germany and Belgium (again, 5-71). This match was part of the Rugby Europe Trophy 2022/23, tournament that the Lobas are playing, together with Finland, Czechia, Germany, and Belgium.
During the Autumn window, Portugal played against Sweden – a team that competes in the Rugby Europe Championship – and, despite losing (5-7), showed very promising signs for what’s to come.
What shall we expect from Finland?
We analysed the match between Finland and Germany (43-5) and saw that Finland relies heavily on their forwards. Our analysis showed that 60% of all metres gained came from their pack (this metric is usually between 40 and 50%). Moreover, Finland’s forwards were responsible for 66% of the team’s carries. In that department, the highlight goes to Number 8 – Anna Soiluva – that made 11 carries, totalling 118 metres (an impressive average of almost 11m per carry).
If we look at Finland’s backs, the highlights were the fly half Jenna Koivumaki and the inside centre Heidi Hennesy. Jenna is a crucial part of Finland’s offensive manoeuvre, making a lot of drifts with the hope to open gaps in the opponent’s defensive line. Those gaps are well utilised by Heidi that likes to carry the ball (13 carries, totalling 119m).
However, it’s a team that focuses a lot (too much?) on the central channels and seems to have a bit of difficulty in defending wide. If Portugal can neutralise Finland’s main weapons and play the fast-paced rugby that is their trademark, it has good chances of winning the match and gain a precious advantage at the top before hosting Czechia on the 4th March.
The Men’s team will start its participation in a “refurbished” Rugby Europe Championship. The traditional model with six teams is gone (hello 6 Nations?!) and instead we have a tournament with eight teams, divided into two pools. In Pool B, Portugal will face Belgium, Poland, and Romania whilst Pool A will see Germany, Spain, Netherlands, and the current title holders, Georgia.
In this new format, the first two teams of the pool stage progress into a knockout round, where the winner of a pool plays the other pool’s runner up before the final (there will also be a bronze final between the two losers).
Portugal starts its campaign against Belgium (4th February, 19H, Jamor (Lisbon)), and against Poland (11th February, 4pm, Gdynia), before hosting Romania on the 19th February at 3pm.
With the World Cup months away, Patrice Lagisquet didn’t call some of the most experienced players (Francisco Fernandes, Mike Tadjer, Anthony Alves, Samuel Marques) for the match against Belgium (and most likely against Poland too – both teams were promoted from the Rugby Europe Trophy this season). Instead, he called some young players that are having a great season in the Portuguese domestic league, such as Nuno Peixoto (back row, GD direito), Duarte Azevedo and Francisco Menéres (scrum half and fly half, Belenenses) and Domingos Cabral (fly half, Agronomia).
The trickiest match of the pool stage will be Romania, one of the 20 teams that will be in France this autumn. In the last two editions of the Rugby Europe Championship, Portugal lost twice against Romania: 27-28 in Lisbon, after winning by 13 points with 5 minutes left to play and 37-27 in Bucharest, when the Lobos were winning by 13-22 at the break. In both matches, it felt like Portugal could have easily win.
With a new head coach (Andy Robinson was replaced by Eugen Apjok), Romania has some good players such as Ionel Melinte, Dragos Ser, as well as Hinckley Vaovasa and Jason Tomane who make for a very strong midfield.
If Portugal goes through the pool stage, it is likely to play either Spain or Georgia. The neighbours next door are going through a transition period after another eligibility blunder (another one) that put the Leones outside the World Cup. Some experienced players have abandoned the national team and the head coach Santiago Santos is only in charge of the team until a “suitable substitute” can be found, as said by the President of the Spanish Rubgy Union.
Georgia (winner of 11 of the past 12 editions of the championship) will use this tournament to give minutes to some of the more experienced players but also to test new solutions for the World Cup. In the last two matches against Georgia, Portugal drew in Tbilisi (25-25) and lost away (23-14) during the summer internationals.
It will be a good chance for both teams to show what they’re made of before playing each other in Toulouse (23rd Septmber) in what will be Portugal’s second match in Pool C.
