Rugby Europe Championship: Hugos bossing it for Portugal
Portugal went into the 2024 Rugby Europe Championship on the crest of a wave having won their first game at a Rugby World Cup only a few months before.
Os Lobos’ 24-23 victory against Fiji in their last match of the tournament was the perfect way for Patrice Lagisquet to bow out as head coach and also gave veterans like hooker Mike Tadjer and scrum-half Samuel Marques a winning send-off.
World Rugby high-performance consultant Daniel Hourcade then came in as interim head coach while Os Lobos selected a remodelled squad for the Rugby Europe Championship with the next four-year Rugby World Cup cycle in mind.
Several uncapped players were given a chance and among them, winger Lucas Martins – the brother of Nicolas Martins, one of Portugal’s standout performers in France, and the two half-backs, Hugo Camacho and Hugo Aubry, have stood out.
While Martins looks to be a natural finisher in the mould of Damian Penaud, or Os Lobos team-mate Raffaele Storti and has taken Test rugby by storm, the way that fellow rookies, Hugo Camacho and Hugo Aubry have adapted to this level is arguably even more impressive given they’ve been tasked with running the show at half-back.
Camacho and Aubry were both uncapped before Portugal kicked off the Rugby Europe Championship with a shock 10-6 defeat to Belgium, which was perhaps the wake-up call they needed after the euphoria of the Rugby World Cup, but look destined for long futures in the game.
Aubry turned 21 between the pool stages and the knockout phase, while Camacho is still a teenager and doesn’t turn 20 until May. Even if Portugal don’t become the first team to beat Georgia in the Rugby Europe Championship in seven years and win Sunday’s final, their emergence will be considered one of the major positives of the campaign.
As well as sharing the same Christian name, Camacho and Aubry are both French-born but with Portuguese ancestry. The scrum-half’s grandparents were immigrants from Madeira, while Aubry’s mother is from Portugal.
“They call us ‘Hugo Uno, Hugo Dos’,” laughs Aubry, who has won two Player of the Match awards in four appearances and is the competition’s leading points scorer.
“We’re lucky enough to have already played in the Espoir category. He played for Bayonne, and I played for La Rochelle, so we’re more or less the same generation; I’m just a year older than him.
“We get on really well, we speak French fluently, so when we’re playing together it’s a lot easier. We’re all part of the national team project and that’s good for us.”
Aubry has since moved from La Rochelle to Roeun and is the most reliable goal-kicker in the competition with a 90%-plus success rate.
Camacho, meanwhile, started his Test career off the bench against Belgium but scored a hat-trick against Poland – believed to be the first by a Portugal scrum-half – in his first start and has kept hold of the number nine jersey ever since.
A few months ago both were sat at home watching on TV as their heroes made the rugby world sit up and take notice, whereas now they are central to Portugal’s chance of toppling six-time defending champions Georgia.
Naturally, Camacho is excited to be playing in such a big game at the Stade Jean-Bouin, which is being televised by RugbyPass TV.
“It’s going to be exceptional. Two months ago, I never thought I’d be playing in a European Championship final, and in Paris against Georgia. That’s a huge plus,” said Camacho.
“For me, as a Frenchman by birth, it’s symbolic to be playing in a final in France. There will be family and friends there.”
Georgia are unbeaten in their last 32 Rugby Europe Championship matches, including a 38-11 win over Portugal in last year’s final, and Camacho and Aubry are under no illusions about the size of the task ahead of them.
Portugal last won a European title in 2003 and Georgia are not going to give up their status as the region’s best European team outside of the Six Nations lightly.
“It’s going to be a great match between the two teams,” said Aubry, who has to be content with a place on the bench, while Camacho is hoping his pack can give him a solid platform to play from. “Georgia are a tough team who are very solid and hard on the ball. I think we have better players in the backs, but we’re going to have to get past them first. The forwards are preparing for a big match.
For the players, Portugal must build on the legacy of the Rugby World Cup, which caused quite a stir back home with rugby knocking football off the back pages following the win over Fiji.
Portugal also drew 18-18 with Georgia and would have won the game had Nuno Sousa Guedes’ last-gasp penalty not gone wide of the upright.
“You can feel it. When we played the semi-final against Spain, there were a lot of people there, between 9,000 and 10,000. For Portuguese rugby, that’s impressive,” acknowledged Camacho.
“We’d already seen it in our first match in Belgium. When we lost, it was as if the Belgians were world champions. That means we’re starting to become a big team; already at European level, we’re starting to rank a bit higher and we’re going to have to show that the World Cup wasn’t just a matter of luck; it was done on purpose. The players are keeping a cool head, they know where they’re coming from.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
31 Go to comments