The Rugby World Cup starts today in France (until October 28) with the presence of Portugal, 16 years after its only participation and aiming to achieve its first victory in the competition. Wolves, who arrive with greater ambitions than in their first and only participation, are integrated into Group C, with Wales (September 16), Georgia (September 23), Australia (October 1) and the islands of Fiji (October 8).
In what is expected to be the most balanced group at the World Cup, where the four opponents of the Portuguese team occupy places in the world rankings between seventh and eleventh, Portugal (16th) appears as an outsider, but dreams of a surprise.
The target is Georgia (11th), Portugal’s old opponent from the European Championship, with whom they drew in qualifying (25-25) in Tbilisi last February, and who will face it in the second round on September 23 encounter in Toulouse. However, the Portuguese team has not defeated Georgia since February 2005.
Fiji (seventh place) is another opponent against whom Wolves will hope to spring a surprise in the final round of Group C on October 8, but the islanders have shown a clear improvement in performance, which is furthermore reflected in their current position in the League. ranking – the South Pacific team defeated England (30-22) in London, for the first time in its history, in the final preparatory match before the World Cup in August.
Australia (ninth place) and Wales (10th) have a theoretically more accessible ranking than the Islanders, but are part of the group of candidates who will reach the more advanced stages of the competition. The Welsh are Portugal’s first opponent, on September 16 in Nice, and the Wallabies, whose secondary team defeated the Portuguese team (30-17) in August, are third on October 1 in Saint-Étienne.
In 2007, the Portuguese team led by Tomaz Morais suffered four defeats at the World Cup, but achieved the first point in the competition by losing to Romania in the last round (14-10) with a difference of less than seven points, which left him the defensive bonus.
In previous matches, Portugal suffered significant defeats against Scotland (56-10) and New Zealand (108-13), discussing the result with Italy until the last 20 minutes, but were defeated (31-5).
Portugal, currently coached by Patrice Lagisquet, has called up a base of 17 professionals, who play in the French under-33 championships. Although 16 of the players still combine their studies or their profession with playing rugby, the Portuguese team arrives in France with the ambition to make life difficult for some opponents.
The four favorites
Ireland, South Africa, France and New Zealand are favourites, but at most two of these teams will be able to reach the quarter-finals. This is because the draw placed the current four world ranking leaders in the same heat and guaranteed two early finals at an early stage of the tournament.
For example, tomorrow’s opening match between France and New Zealand, from Group A, will make a decisive contribution to the qualification for the quarter-finals. In addition, it also gives a first indication of the true form of the two candidates.
In Group B, which also includes Scotland, Tonga and Romania, South Africa and Ireland will face off on September 23 to choose which shark they will face in the first match of the knockout stages.
South Africa (2007 and 2019) and New Zealand (2011 and 2015) have also shared the last four editions of the World Cup, with the French and Irish trying to become the second European team to win the trophy, after England in 2003.
The two teams from the old continent leave with strong arguments: the Blues play at home and have suffered only one defeat since July 2021, in the last 22 meetings, precisely against the Irish, in February in the Six Nations.
The Irish, in turn, present themselves as leaders of the world rankings, after a run of thirteen consecutive victories, which started in July 2022, with a historic double victory in New Zealand, and which also includes successes against South Africa and Australia in November . of the same year.
However, both have significant psychological barriers to overcome: Ireland have never reached the quarter-finals; France, together with England, is the team with the most finals losses (three each).
The intersection of the four biggest favorites in the quarter-finals opens the way to a later stage of the competition for other teams who, from the semi-finals onwards, will be able to benefit from the motivation of successive successes to cause a surprise and their status as “outsiders” to confirm.
Australia and Wales, who compete in Group C with Portugal, Fiji and Georgia, are expected to face England and Argentina in the quarter-finals unless Japan pulls off an upset in Group D, which also includes Samoa and Chile.
Source: DN
