The national rugby team recorded two defeats (28-8 against Wales and 34-14 against Australia) and one draw (Georgia, 18-18) in the first three rounds of the World Cup, which takes place in France, and today ends their participation in the competition against the Fiji Islands (8 p.m., RTP2), who only need a draw to progress to the quarter-finals. The second participation will go down in history and bring a very positive image, which is actually proven by the many praises of the French press for the performance of the Wolves, a team that managed to go face to face with all their opponents.
The renowned newspaper L’Equipe chose as the title of the chronicle of the match against Australia a sentence that says a lot: “The total rugby of Portugal, one of the favorites of the World Cup”. In the text we read that despite the defeat, the national team played a convincing third match, which showed “total rugby, which was very dear to his coach Patrice Lagisquet, with Australia achieving a difficult victory”.
Continuing, the French sports daily highlighted that “the Portuguese fans, coming from their country or living in France, made a lot of noise for their team in Saint-Étienne and that they reciprocated a hundredfold, because they were confronted by some wallabies that put them in danger of the next stage, the Wolves played total rugby that could delight any observer”.
The praise continued: “Lagisquet’s men showed that they had as many sticks as they had ideas. Wingers Raffaele Storti and Rodrigo Marta tore through the Australian curtain several times and fullback Nicolas Martins could have breathed new life into the match shortly before half-time, but was pushed back to the side just before flattening”.
L’Equipe columnist Adrien Corée wrote that “after the break, Wolves stood out in attack, proving that they were not only annoying, but could become workhorses, having scored the second try of the match with perseverance. And finally, he stressed that “Fiji has reason to worry if Portugal produces the same kind of performance as against Wales, Georgia and Australia”.
Portuguese courage
The generalist Le Monde, another leading French publication, highlighted “the daring of the Portuguese team” in the match against Australia. “Portugal had a lead of about fifteen minutes during a Rugby World Cup match. This is the fond memory that thousands of Portuguese fans will keep of a match where sporting logic prevailed, where the Wallabies were more powerful than the generous Wolves and ultimately won (34-14)”. However, “the Portuguese’s exciting start to the match was highlighted as their daring in the 12th minute was rewarded with Pedro Bettencourt’s successful finish, giving Portugal a 7–3 lead”.
Le Monde also emphasized that “in the second half, even after Australia took the lead, the Wolves did not lose heart and did not give up on developing a generous and beautiful match to watch”.
On the official website, Eurosport France also praised the corner team in the match against Australia, highlighting the “impeccable attitude of playing face to face with all opponents throughout the competition”.
For the French Eurosport, “the wolves once again showed very good attacking intentions, where their ability to accelerate when carrying the ball allowed them to create interesting spaces, as in the first points they achieved in the game: an excellent pass from Tomás Appleton to Pedro Bettencourt, who was alone on the right wing, highlighted the very good performance of Samuel Marques, very useful in the game with his feet”.
A word to Fiji
Eurosport France added that “several times the Portuguese were not far from scoring, but they had to deal with mistakes with the ball in their hands or the vigilant defense of the Australians, which also ultimately caused them to lose the game against opponents who were physically were stronger and more accustomed to matches of this intensity.” The television channel’s website left a warning ahead of the final match: “Even though they are already out of contention for a place in the next phase, the Lusitanians still have a role to play as the result against Fiji will depend on the ask if the wallabies qualify.” or be eliminated.”
Earlier, on his debut for Wales, Le Parisien had already praised the wolves. “Despite playing a convincing match, the Portuguese team, who qualified last for the competition, did not record their first World Cup victory in history. Will it be next time?” the match report.
For the website 20 Minutes, the result with Wales was flattering for their rival, “with the Welsh winning the attacking bonus against some exemplary Portuguese, who showed tremendous solidity for much of the game”.
France.TV highlighted the draw that Portugal achieved against Georgia, the first in a World Cup. “This seemingly unfinished achievement is even more remarkable when you consider that Portuguese rugby is far from the standard of its footballers, led by the emblematic Cristiano Ronaldo. The majority of its rugby players are semi-professionals and require other jobs, such as captain Tomás . Appleton, a dental surgeon, with only seven thousand federated players, far from the more than 300 thousand in France”.
A more professional selection
It was precisely this question of professionalism that selector Patrice Lagisquet, who is now leaving his position, attracted attention this week, calling for a “more professional” selection and “more matches against first-tier countries” to continue bridging the gap between ours reduce. country of these teams.
“Portugal needs a more professional team, with the Lusitanos [XV] to be at least semi-professional, and to have more professional players in France if they want to reach that level. And also to play a number of matches in the next four years against countries that normally play in level 1,” he analyzed.
Asked whether the Wolves’ performances against teams like Wales and Australia “cry out” for “more opportunities” to face teams of this level, Lagiquet agreed, but recalled that in order to do so, the Portuguese team achieve, must continue to work in a professional manner. way.
“Yes, but to shout like that you have to accept it. You have to be able to compete and we were able to participate in this World Cup because we prepared very well. When you have many players who remain amateurs and during the year only one or two having to play against first division teams once, it will be very difficult to reach the same level as in the World Cup,” he said.
Still talking about the space that separates Portugal from the best countries in the world, Lagisquet opined that “it is not 20 points”, despite this being the distance at which the wolves found themselves both in their defeat against Wales (28- 8), as well as against Australia (34-14). “The games were very different but I’m not sure the difference is that important when I see that the second try ‘offered’ to Wales was achieved with a penalty that didn’t exist and they scored 21 times against Australia. ” When we only had 14 points, because we showed a lack of experience, we attacked too much with 14 against 15,” the French coach explained.
Source: DN
