peeiii

🇵🇹 Portugal defeat 🇬🇪 Georgia 19-17 to win their first Rugby Europe Championship since 2003. It is the Lelos first defeat in the competition since 2017 and ends their run of 8 consecutive titles.

How close to full strength were 🇵🇹 Portugal yesterday? In front row they were without Anthony Alves & Cody Thomas. So missing back up at prop on the bench. Lucas Da Silva also still not made his debut despite being in squads for 18 months now. He'd probably be 1st choice whenever he finally joins the team. In second row Jose Madeira is an essential player but got injured in Pro D2 semi final. He was a significant absentee. Steevy Cerquiera is in Nationale 2 now but has several season experience at a good level in France and also huge (2.07m) but has only turned up for a couple matches post-RWC. He was another miss. Martim Belo was also missing even though he was in the squad. So they were very weak at lock. One was a debutant, the other only had 2 int'l starts, and both were amateurs. In back row they had the first choice flankers but missed the first choice #8 Joao Granate (again even though he was in the squad) and had a young 21 year old who is playing professionally in Nationale but doesn't get huge amount of game time. Still they have low depth in this area so it wasn't hugely far off first choice. At half backs both first choices Samuel Marques and Joris Moura were missing. The back ups were only 21 & 22 years old but had done well in some REC matches and both play professionally in Pro D2 (albeit not as regular starters). In the outside backs Rodrigo Marta, Raffaele Storti, Jose Lima three first choice starters were out. Back ups Pierre Sayerse also absent as was Lucas Martins was in the squad but missed the game. That said the starting outside backs were not bad. Simao Bento was superb against South Africa last year, Vincent Pinto had a good season in Pro D2 although was out of usual position at #13 here due to Marta and Lima's injuries, Tomas Appleton been experienced captain for years, and Manuel Cardoso Pinto and Nuno Sousa Guedes are both hugely exciting talents (although the latter been constantly injured last 18 months and looked well off the pace here - although to be fair so did several who hadn't been injured). Lobos actually have good depth in back three players to cope with absentees. The bench had very little strength. None of the players had much experience. Three of them were 20 year olds on debut. They also picked a 6/2 split which backfired when Appleton got injured 20 minutes in, then his replacement (a young 21 year old playing in Nationale) got injured about 14 minutes later, so they were bringing on 20 year old debutant forwards to replace backs in the 1st half. So to conclude, I'd estimate this was maybe 7 or 8 players away from a fully first choice starting XV, although with capable back ups in outside backs, and others who were a drop off but ought not to have been such a drop off they take 106 pts. Only the locks and nearly all the bench that were clear areas of significant weak drop offs from a first choice side. However whilst the weak bench and 1st half injuries forcing players out of position obviously didn't help and the side dropping off in level late on was expected. That can't explain why they were getting destroyed from the very first minute way before that. This isn't the first time Portugal has ever had less than ideal availability. There were a few players missing last year away vs South Africa and they put in a way better effort for segments of that match. Prior to this match there were rumours of unhappiness in the squad. Some of Simon Mannix's assistant staff left. Also word of possible strike threat from players over some issues (Appleton denied this). This performance lends credibility to those rumours. These players were obviously a long way off from matching Ireland but they were not all so awful that anything close to a match quite like this should have been expected. So the best guess is something went terribly wrong in camp, they put in woefully inadequate preparation if they even prepared at all, and had zero appetite for tackling, then with 1st half injuries forcing even more disorganisation, low morale, and weak bench there was no way to stem the flow of points and turn it around for a few passages of play. Whatever happened though Portugal fans deserve an explanation from FPR who must take responsibility. This match was nowhere near their best effort and totally unacceptable, it is a stain on Portugal rugby's reputation and damaged the image of Rugby Europe more broadly, and everyone from the FPR blazers, coaching staff, and players should be ashamed of it. The only way Portuguese rugby can now redeem its image is by showing their true selves next time they get a chance to play "Tier 1" opposition again (which won't be until 2027) so that memories of this match can be forgotten. That this horrible weekend comes only 2 years after the all time high point of Portuguese rugby when they were legitimately competitive vs top 10 ranked teams, won over many new fans (including Gareth Edwards who said they were one of his favourite things about the RWC), and we all had hopes it would inspire the next generation of Lobos makes it all the more sad.

🇵🇹 Raffaele Storti 23/24 season highlight reel. RWC superstar and Pro D2 record try scorer.