Portugal national rugby union team

Portugal

Nickname(s)	Os Lobos
Emblem	Portuguese shield
Union	Portuguese Rugby Federation
Head coach	Martim Aguiar
Captain	Francisco Pinto Magalhães
Most caps	Vasco Uva (100)[1]
Top scorer	Gonçalo Malheiro (279)[2]
Top try scorer	António Aguilar (24)[3]
Home stadium	Estádio Universitário de Lisboa
First colours Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	30 (as of 3 April 2016)
Highest	13 (2005)
Lowest	30 (2015)
First international
Portugal 5–6 Spain (Lisbon, Portugal; 13 April 1935)
Biggest win
Germany 0–69 Portugal (Heusenstamm, Germany; 27 February 2010)
Biggest defeat
Portugal 13-108 New Zealand (Lyon, France; 15 September 2007)
World Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 2007)
Best result	Pool stage, 2007
Website	www.fpr.pt

The Portugal national rugby union team is the rugby union side representing Portugal at international level. They are rated as a performance team in the new IRB four-band classification system, the second highest. Portugal had their first match in 1935 and now compete in the European Nations Cup and occasionally in the IRB Nations Cup. The team as well as all rugby union in Portugal is administered by the Federação Portuguesa de Rugby. Portugal qualified for their first Rugby World Cup in 2007 where they were grouped in Pool C along with New Zealand, Italy, Romania and Scotland. They are nicknamed Os Lobos, Portuguese for "The Wolves".

Portugal have experienced modest success in recent years. They have qualified to the 2007 World Cup in France and although they lost all their matches they managed to score one try in all their games and led the score against Romania until the late minutes. Portugal were the surprise winners of the 2003–04 European Nations Cup, but though they could only finish third in the following event. The IRB Sevens World Series circuit has allowed the Portuguese players to improve their game. In 2006–07 Portugal competed at every IRB sevens event for the first time.

History

Early

Portugal played their first ever rugby international in April 1935 against Spain. Portugal lost the game by a single point, 6–5. They played Spain again the following year with Spain winning 16–9. Portugal had more regular competition from the mid-1960s, and won their first game in 1966, defeating Spain 9 to 3. Portugal played Italy for the first time in 1967, losing 6–3. They also had their first match against Romania soon after and lost by 40 points. They defeated Belgium in 1968, and also played Morocco for the first time.

The first game of the 1970s turned out to be a draw against the Netherlands. Portugal managed to draw with Italy (nil all) in 1972 and following that, defeated them 9–6 in 1973. After a number of mixed results throughout the early 1970s, Portugal won five matches in a row from 1979 through to 1981. They played Morocco, who won the encounter. After a 1983 draw against Spain, Portugal managed a seven-game winning streak from 1984 to 1985, including wins over Belgium, Denmark, Morocco, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Zimbabwe. The first Rugby World Cup was held in 1987, though it was by invitation, thus there was no qualifying tournament.

1990s

From 1989 to 1990, the 1991 World Cup qualifiers were held for the European nations. Portugal started in Round 2b in October 1989. They defeated Czechoslovakia 15 to 13 in Ricant to advance to Round 2c. However here they were defeated by the Netherlands 32–3 and eliminated from qualifying. Portugal again participated in the 1995 World Cup qualifying competition for European teams, starting in Round 1. They were pooled in the West Group, and defeated Belgium and Switzerland, but lost to Spain, advancing into Round 2. Here Wales defeated them, and they lost to Spain.

Portugal began play in Pool 3 of Round B in the European qualifying competition for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Portugal won all their group matches except for the one against Spain, but still finished second in the group, which took them into Pool 3 of Round C. All games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland. Portugal lost 85–11 to Scotland, and 21–17 to Spain. Both nations went through to the World Cup and Portugal went into repechage. Here Portugal lost a home and away series to Uruguay.

2000s

In 2002 Portugal began playing for a place in the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Pool A of Round 3 of the European qualifying tournament. They were grouped with Spain and Poland. Each nation only won one game, though on for and against Portugal finished second to Spain. Portugal were knocked out of competition. In 2003–04 Portugal won the European Nations Cup, losing only one match to win their first championship. In 2004 Professor Tomaz Morais, coach of the Portugal national team at both sevens and fifteen aside, was nominated for the IRB's coach of the year award. This was a remarkable achievement for a coach from a third tier rugby nation. Morais has been credited with much of Portugal's progress in recent years.

In 2006 it was announced that Portugal would receive a grant from the IRB to help develop their rugby to Tier 2 standard. Few details have been released thus far regarding how the money will be spent but it is hoped it will ensure that Portugal's rugby will be able to move onto the next level. In 2006 the inaugural IRB Nations Cup was hosted in Lisbon. The tournament featured Portugal, Russia, Argentina A and Italy A. It is anticipated that this will become an annual event and another medium through which the Portugal national team can develop their skills.

2007 World Cup

Portugal began their qualification campaign for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in 2004, as part of the European Nations Cup Division 1 2004–06 tournament. They won their first match, defeating Ukraine 6–36. They then went on to defeat Georgia 18–14 in their second match, and then won their third match against the Czech Republic, and went on to defeated Russia as well, but then lost to Romania. Portugal then drew with Russia 19-all, and then lost to Georgia. After a loss to Romania and a win against the Czech Republic, Portugal finished third overall in the standings, and qualified for Round 5.

Round 5 was played in October 2006 as a three match series between Italy, Russia and Portugal. Both Portugal and Russia lost heavily in their matches against Italy, who easily qualified for the finals. Second place came down to the final match of the round in Lisbon. Portugal won the match 26–23 to make it to Round 6. Round 6 was a home and away series against the Round 5 Pool B winners, Georgia. Portugal lost the first match, but drew 11-all in the second meeting. Georgia went through to the finals, and Portugal entered the repechage round where they defeated Morocco 26–20 on aggregate. The team then faced Uruguay for the last position in the finals.

In the first leg of the two-match Repechage series, Portugal won 12–5. In the second game in Montevideo Portugal lost 18–12. On aggregate, they won 24–23, sending them to their first ever World Cup. Having qualified for their first World Cup, several players were subsequently arrested in the ensuing celebrations as a result of an altercation with local police. No charges were laid and the players involved were allowed to leave Uruguay.

In the 2007 Rugby World Cup, They went to Pool C, alongside favourites the All Blacks, Italy, Romania and Scotland. Portugal's highlights included preventing Italy getting a bonus point, scoring a try against the All Blacks, and coming within a try of beating Romania before losing 14–10. They also managed to score in all the four games. Portugal team were celebrated for their commitment and passion, and for being the only amateur team to make it to the World Cup.

2008–present

After the World Cup, Portugal faced some problems, including the end of the international career or of the career of several key players, like Joaquim Ferreira, Paulo Murinello and Rui Cordeiro, and achieved only one win over Czech Republic in the final round of the European Nations Cup tournament, finishing in 5th place, their worst result since 2002.

On 1 November 2008 they lost at home against Canada 21–13, in a friendly game.^[4] Tomás Morais to face the upcoming edition of the Six Nations B, that also qualifies for the 2011 Rugby World Cup finals, had New Zealander Murray Henderson assigned as assistant coach.

Portugal missed the second presence at the Rugby World Cup finals, after two surprising losses at home with Georgia (10–16) and Romania (9–20), which the "Lobos" had previously defeated 22–21 abroad. Portugal thus missed the 3rd place that would have granted access to the Rugby World Cup repechage.

Tomaz Morais was replaced by New Zealand coach Errol Brain, in October 2010, with a three years contract. He had mixed results, starting with strong performances but ended up with disappointing games. He was replaced by Frederico Sousa in October 2013.

Portugal lost to Germany in the 2015–16 European Nations Cup Division 1A, finishing last, resulting in relegation for the following year.

Record

European Nations Cup

Season	G	W	D	L	PF	PA	+/−	Pts	Pos
2000	5	2	0	3	74	100	–26	9	5th
2001	5	1	0	4	77	165	–88	7	5th
2001–02	10	3	0	7	170	295	–125	16	5th
2003–04	10	9	0	1	245	180	+65	28	1st
2004–06	10	6	1	3	193	173	+20	23	3rd
2006–08	10	3	0	7	174	196	–22	16	5th
2008–09	5	3	1	1	124	84	+40	12	3rd
2010	5	2	0	3	131	65	+66	9	4th
2011	5	3	0	2	113	98	+15	14	3rd
2012	5	1	0	4	102	132	–30	7	5th
2013	5	1	1	3	75	96	–21	7	4th
2014	5	1	0	4	70	126	–56	5	5th
2015	5	1	0	4	52	100	–48	5	5th
2016	5	0	0	5	72	210	–138	1	6th*

Notes:

• Portugal's last place finish in the 2015–16 ENC Division 1A means that they are relegated to Division 1B for the following year.

World Rugby Nations Cup

Year	G	W	D	L	PF	PA	+/−	Pts	Pos
2006	3	0	1	2	62	87	–25	3	4th
2007	Did not enter
2008
2009
2010
2011	3	1	0	2	60	89	–29	5	6th
2012	3	0	0	3	37	104	–67	1	6th
2013	Did not enter
2014
2015

World Cup Record

World Cup record										World Cup Qualification record
Year	Round	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	+/−		P	W	D	L	PF	PA	+/−
1987	Not invited									—
1991	Did not qualify									2	1	0	1	18	45	–27
1995										5	2	0	3	85	177	–92
1999										6	3	0	3	153	139	14
2003										2	1	0	1	60	60	0
2007	Pool Stage	4	0	0	4	38	209	–171		18	10	2	6	283	362	–79
2011	Did not qualify									10	5	1	4	255	149	106
2015										10	2	1	7	145	222	–77
Total	1/7	4	0	0	4	38	209	–171		53	24	4	25	999	1154	–155

Players

Current squad

Portugal squad for the European Nations Cup 2016

Backs

Player	Position	Club	Club competition
Francisco Pinto Magalhães (C)	Scrum-half	CDUL	Campeonato
Nuno Bettencourt	Scrum-half	Cascais	Campeonato
Francisco Vieira	Scrum-half	CDUP	Campeonato
Tomás Appleton	Fly-Half	Darlington Mowden Park	National League 1
Manuel Costa	Fly-Half	CDUL	Campeonato
Manuel Vilela	Centre	Direito	Campeonato
José Vareta	Centre	Direito	Campeonato
Francisco Appleton	Centre	CDUL	Campeonato
Gonçalo Foro	Wing	CDUL	Campeonato
Tomás Noronha	Wing	CDUL	Campeonato
Bernardo Seara Cardoso	Wing	Belenenses	Campeonato
Nuno Sousa Guedes	Fullback	Direito	Campeonato
Pedro Bettencourt Ávila	Fullback	Clermont	Top 14

Forwards

Player	Position	Club	Club competition
Duarte Diniz	Hooker	Direito	Campeonato
Mike Tadjer	Hooker	Agen	Top 14
José Conde	Hooker	Cascais	Campeonato
Bruno Medeiros	Prop	CDUL	Campeonato
Bruno Rocha	Prop	Técnico	Campeonato
Francisco Domingues	Prop	Provence Rugby	Pro D2
João Almeida	Prop	CDUL	Campeonato
José Corte-Real	Prop	CDUP	Campeonato
Gonçalo Uva	Lock	Direito	Campeonato
Diogo Toorn	Lock	CDUL	Campeonato
Luís Cerquinho	Lock	CDUP	Campeonato
Volodymyr Grykh	Lock	USA Perpignan	Pro D2
Maxime Vaz	Flanker	Clermont	Top 14
Sebastião Villax	Flanker	CDUL	Campeonato
Salvador Vassalo	Flanker	Cascais	Campeonato
Miguel Macedo	Flanker	CDUP	Campeonato
João Lino	Number 8	CDUL	Campeonato
Luís Portela	Number 8	Direito	Campeonato
Francisco Sousa	Number 8	Cascais	Campeonato

Individual all-time records

Vasco Uva is the most capped player for Portugal (100) and also has the record for most matches in the starting XV (93).^[1][5] The highest scorer for Portugal is Gonçalo Malheiro, with 279 points.^[2] Malheiro is also the player with the most drop goals (12).^[6] Pedro Leal holds the record for most conversions (42) and penalty goals (50).^[7][8] António Aguilar with 24 tries is the player with the most tries scored.^[3] Duarte Pinto has the record for most matches as a substitute, with 23 substitutions.^[9] Bernardo Duarte holds the record for most matches as a substitute, without ever playing in the starting XV (13).^[9]

Individual all-time records

Most caps

#	Player	Pos	Span	Mat	Start	Sub	Pts	Tries	Won	Lost	Draw	%
1	Vasco Uva	Number 8	2003-2015	100	93	7	65	13	39	56	5	41.50
2	Joaquim Ferreira	Prop	1993-2007	87	81	6	15	3	42	41	4	50.57
3	António Aguilar	Fullback	1999-2014	84	74	10	120	24	30	52	2	36.90
4	Gonçalo Uva	Lock	2004-	84	79	5	40	8	29	50	5	37.50
5	João Correia	Hooker	2003-2014	80	73	7	20	4	30	46	4	40.00
6	Diogo Mateus	Centre	2000-2010	75	72	3	78	15	33	38	4	46.66
7	Luís Pissarra	Scrum-half	1996-2007	75	58	17	0	0	37	35	3	51.33
8	Pedro Leal	Scrum-half	2005-2014	71	60	11	259	5	23	43	5	35.91
9	Miguel Portela	Centre	1996-2010	63	58	5	33	6	27	32	4	46.03
10	Marcello D'Orey	Lock	1996-2007	60	56	4	25	5	31	25	4	55.00

Last updated: Romania vs Portugal, 6 Feb 2016. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most tries

#	Player	Pos	Span	Mat	Start	Sub	Pts	Tries
1	António Aguilar	Fullback	1999-2014	84	74	10	120	24
2	Gonçalo Foro	Wing	2007-	57	47	10	90	18
3	Diogo Mateus	Centre	2000-2010	75	72	3	78	15
4	Vasco Uva	Number 8	2003-2015	100	93	7	65	13
5	Nuno Garvão de Carvalho	Wing	2001-2005	18	15	3	45	9
6	Rohan Hoffmann	Fullback	1996-2002	26	26	0	77	8
	Gonçalo Malheiro	Fly-half	1998-2007	41	31	10	279	8
	Gonçalo Uva	Lock	2004-2014	84	79	5	40	8
9	Antonio Cunha	Number 8	1990-2005	52	37	15	30	6
	Miguel Portela	Centre	1996-2010	63	58	5	33	6
	Pedro Silva	Fullback	2008-2011	26	21	5	30	6

Last updated: Romania vs Portugal, 6 Feb 2016. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most points

#	Player	Pos	Span	Mat	Start	Sub	Pts	Tries	Conv	Pens	Drop
1.	Gonçalo Malheiro	Fly-half	1998-2007	41	31	10	279	8	25	51	12
2.	Pedro Leal	Scrum-half	2005-2014	71	60	11	259	5	42	50	0
3.	Pedro Cabral	Fly-half	2006-2011	37	23	14	184	2	24	37	5
4.	António Aguilar	Fullback	1999-2014	84	74	10	120	24	0	0	0
5.	Joe Gardener	Fly-half	2010-2012	15	14	1	114	3	15	23	0
6.	Duarte Pinto	Fly-half	2003-2010	49	26	23	112	2	18	22	0
7.	Gonçalo Foro	Wing	2007-	57	47	10	90	18	0	0	0
8.	Pedro Bettencourt Ávila	Fullback	2013-	15	15	0	81	3	3	20	0
9.	Nuno Mourão	Centre	1993-2000	36	34	2	80	2	14	14	0
	João Queimado	Fly-half	1984-1994	48	48	0	80	1	9	17	2

Last updated: Romania vs Portugal, 6 Feb 2016. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most points in a match

#	Player	Pos	Pts	Tries	Conv	Pens	Drop	Opposition	Venue	Date
1.	Thierry Teixeira	Fly-half	30	0	0	9	1	Georgia	Lisbon	08/02/2000
2.	Gonçalo Malheiro	Fullback	25	0	2	5	2	Spain	Coimbra	23/03/2003
3.	Gonçalo Malheiro	Fullback	24	2	1	4	0	Czech Republic	Lisbon	08/03/2003
4.	Pedro Leal	Fly-half	23	0	1	7	0	Chile	Santiago	17/11/2012
5.	Pedro Cabral	Fullback	22	1	4	0	3	Czech Republic	Lisbon	16/02/2008
6.	Gonçalo Malheiro	Fly-half	21	3	3	0	0	Barbarians	Lisbon	10/06/2004
7.	Gonçalo Malheiro	Fullback	20	0	1	1	5	Russia	Krasnodar	29/03/2003
8.	Gonçalo Malheiro	Fullback	19	0	2	0	5	Georgia	Lisbon	16/02/2003
	Gonçalo Malheiro	Fly-half	19	1	1	3	1	Italy A	Lisbon	18/06/2006
10.	2 players on 17 points

Last updated: Romania vs Portugal, 6 Feb 2016. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most tries in a match

#	Player	Pos	Pts	Tries	Conv	Pens	Drop	Opposition	Venue	Date
1.	Nuno Garvão de Carvalho	Wing	15	3	0	0	0	Spain	Ibiza	21/03/2004
	Gonçalo Malheiro	Fly-half	21	3	3	0	0	Barbarians	Lisbon	10/06/2004
	Gonçalo Foro	Wing	15	3	0	0	0	Germany	Heusenstamm	27/02/2010
4.	20 players on 2 tries

Last updated: Romania vs Portugal, 6 Feb 2016. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Most matches as captain

#	Player	Pos	Span	Mat	Won	Lost	Draw	%	Pts	Tries	Conv	Pens	Drop
1.	João Correia	Hooker	2008-2014	35	10	23	2	31.42	10	2	0	0	0
2.	Vasco Uva	Number 8	2006-2015	20	5	13	2	30.00	20	4	0	0	0
3.	Luís Pissarra	Scrum-half	2003-2005	9	8	1	0	88.88	0	0	0	0	0
4.	Rohan Hoffmann	Fly-half	2002	7	3	4	0	42.85	49	3	5	8	0
5.	Gonçalo Uva	Lock	2007-2014	7	2	5	0	28.57	5	1	0	0	0

Last updated: Romania vs Portugal, 6 Feb 2016. Statistics include officially capped matches only.

Overall

World Rugby Rankings
Top 30 rankings as of 5 December 2016[10]
Rank	Change*	Team	Points
1		New Zealand	94.78
2		England	89.84
3		Australia	86.97
4		Ireland	84.62
5	1	Wales	82.55
6	1	South Africa	81.79
7		Scotland	80.67
8		France	80.13
9		Argentina	79.91
10		Fiji	76.46
11		Japan	74.22
12		Georgia	74.14
13		Italy	72.47
14	1	Tonga	71.94
15	1	Samoa	71.25
16		Romania	69.36
17		United States	64.66
18		Canada	63.95
19		Russia	63.25
20		Namibia	62.78
21		Uruguay	60.66
22		Spain	60.17
23		Kenya	59.28
24		Germany	58.99
25		Portugal	56.97
26		Belgium	56.87
27		Hong Kong	56.50
28		South Korea	55.50
29		Chile	55.08
30		Netherlands	54.93
*Change from the previous week
Portugal's historical rankings
Source: World Rugby - Graph updated to 5 December 2016[10]

Portugal's test match record against all teams, updated to 6 February 2016, is as follows:^[11][12][13]

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	% Won
Andorra	3	3	0	0	100%
Argentina XV	4	1	3	0	25%
Barbarians	1	0	1	0	0%
Belgium	12	8	2	2	66.67%
Brazil	1	1	0	0	100%
Canada	4	0	4	0	0%
Chile	3	3	0	0	100%
Czech Republic	8	8	0	0	100%
Czechoslovakia	2	2	0	0	100%
Denmark	2	2	0	0	100%
England Saxons	1	0	1	0	0%
Fiji	2	0	2	0	0%
France A	3	0	3	0	0%
Georgia	19	4	13	2	21.05%
Germany	6	5	1	0	83.33%
Hong Kong	1	0	1	0	0%
Italy	12	1	10	1	8.33%
Italy A	2	0	1	1	0%
Japan XV	1	0	1	0	0%
Kenya	1	0	1	0	0%
Morocco	14	7	5	2	50%
Namibia	7	2	5	0	28.57%
Netherlands	12	8	3	1	66.67%
New Zealand	1	0	1	0	0%
Poland	7	4	3	0	57.14%
Romania	23	3	20	0	13.04%
Russia	18	5	12	1	27.78%
Scotland	1	0	1	0	0%
Scotland A	1	0	1	0	0%
Spain	35	10	23	2	28.57%
South Africa Amateurs	1	0	1	0	0%
Soviet Union	2	0	2	0	0%
Sweden	2	2	0	0	100%
Switzerland	4	4	0	0	100%
Tonga	1	0	1	0	0%
Tunisia	9	3	6	0	33.33%
Ukraine	4	3	1	0	75%
United States	2	0	2	0	0%
Uruguay	10	3	7	0	30%
Yugoslavia	3	2	0	1	66.67%
Wales	1	0	1	0	0%
West Germany	3	1	2	0	33.33%
Zimbabwe	4	2	2	0	50%
Total[n 1]	253	97	143	13	38.34%

See also

• Federação Portuguesa de Rugby

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Portugal national rugby union team.

• (Portuguese) Federação Portuguesa de Rugby Official Site
• World Cup Preview
• Portugal on RugbyData.com

Awards
Preceded by None	Portuguese Team of the Year 2007	Succeeded by Portugal national rugby sevens team