LONG READ 'I want people to know who Rodrigo Marta is' - Portugal's history-making Top 14 try machine

Rodrigo Marta scores tries. He has scored against Hong Kong China. He has scored against Switzerland. He has scored against most of the nations on the Rugby Europe scene. He has scored twice in one game against the Azzurri of Italy.  He has scored a bucketload in the ProD2 in France at a rate of close to one every other match. Recently, Marta has scored five tries in three games at the start of this Top 14 season. And he scored the most famous try in Portuguese rugby history, a swan dive in the south of France which took the Lobos to the promised land.

At just 26 years old, the Section Paloise back has 42 Test tries. On rugby’s all time list of international scorers, he is above Damian Penaud and Adam Ashley-Cooper. Jeff Wilson, Christian Cullen and Brian O’Driscoll are a few ahead of him. Marta is seven tries adrift of a place in the top 10.

A quote from João Mirra, one of his most influential coaches, goes a little way to explaining Marta’s lethal strike rate.

“João used to say something that stuck with me: ‘Don’t overthink. Follow and trust your instincts. Never change who you are,’” Marta remembers. “I still hold that advice dear to my heart to this day.”

Like many of his vintage, Marta was introduced to the game by Portugal’s trailblazers of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Pedro Leal was among the headline names that year and Marta first picked up a ball with brother Manuel at Leal’s rugby academy in Lisbon. But when the time came to choose a club to represent, the siblings were stumped.

“There’s a funny story about it,” Marta says. “My brother and I went to those first practices together. We were very undecided about which club to play for, and then our father said, ‘Look, since you can’t make up your minds, I’ll decide for you: Belenenses! That’s where I played rugby!’ And so, we did!”

Marta’s career would blossom quickly. He says his mindset of refusing to fear the unknown was key to his development.

“I took the leap. I wasn’t afraid to play in the seniors. Even if I wasn’t a great player in that moment, I didn’t fear facing the best in Portugal. Believing in myself, working hard and trusting in my way of playing rugby.”

I was known for doing whatever I wanted, like going out to dinner with a few friends before a big match. So, in his first days as head coach, I missed a couple of sessions and was late for the next one.

At 19, Marta earned his first cap for the Lobos, facing Romania at Baia Mare in 2018. His first try would come six months later, when he sliced open Poland’s defence twice, with both moments having a special place in his memory bank.

But for Marta, representing Portugal goes beyond scoring tries, being named player of the match or landing milestones.

“Having the honour to play for the national team is something bigger than yourself. It is bigger than life. Every single time, it is a mix of ‘I made it’ with a monumental sense of responsibility. There are no words that could allow me to explain what it means to be a member of the Lobos.”

The Top 14 still felt like a distant prospect from the local Portuguese club scene. The door to France began to creak open when Patrice Lagisquet was announced as Portugal’s head coach in 2019. Having led Biarritz Olympique to the Bouclier de Brennus, the iconic ex-wing arrived with a professional mindset, completely changing how Portugal’s best worked day-to-day. Marta was given a serious reality check.

“I was known for doing whatever I wanted, like going out to dinner with a few friends before a big match. So, in his first days as head coach, I missed a couple of sessions and was late for the next one.

“Patrice extended his hand, shook mine, and simply said, ‘Rodrigo, this is the last time you show up late; otherwise, you won’t play for Portugal this season. I’m not kidding. This place will be strictly professional. Get that into your head.’ It changed my behaviour. It was a new era for all of us.”

Portugal slowly regained their footing and began competing with the best teams in the Rugby Europe Championship. What had once been an underdog side soon became a genuine threat to any opponent who underestimated them.

“Those first games under Patrice Lagisquet were a complete change of tune,” Marta says. “We were fighting almost on the same level as Georgia; we went to Kaliningrad to beat Russia. It changed our trajectory.”

The generation of Diogo Hasse Ferreira, José Madeira, Raffaele Storti, David Wallis and Marta ultimately changed Portugal’s destiny.

“Portugal’s player pool has improved in quality, and you can see that in the progress the country has made since the early 2010s. But my generation’s success has also to do with our firm belief we could become big and do great things.”

Five years of hard work, five years of believing in ourselves. But let me say, that try was all Raffaele Storti. He unlocked the door and gifted me the chance to claim it.

All the hard work, self-belief, brilliance and relentlessness would lead Portugal to write rugby history, overcoming Fiji for their first World Cup win three years ago. Marta’s part in the tale in enshrined in Portuguese rugby folklore. With two minutes left, and the Lobos trailing by six points, the nation needed a hero.

After a few monstrous phases built by every single player in the team, Storti picked down the narrowest of short side, and with Fiji’s fringe defence posted missing, put Marta in for the most famous try in Portuguese rugby. Samuel Marques nailed the conversion, and new ground was broken.

When Marta dived onto the Toulouse turf, the noise was deafening. Many of the neutral French who had backed Fiji against top-tier opposition were now roaring on the outsiders from Iberia.

“I was like everyone else in the stadium, stunned, shocked, and I couldn’t believe what we had done in that moment,” Marta says.

“Five years of hard work, five years of believing in ourselves. But let me say, that try was all Raffaele Storti. He unlocked the door and gifted me the chance to claim it. He was unreal in that World Cup.

“I think it is key to recognise the people around us are just as important to our success and development as our self-belief and hard work.”

Marta has never forgotten those who helped shape him into the player he is today, with several former coaches, staff members, and teammates at US Dax, his first club in France, deserving special recognition.

“Jeff Dubois and the staff were pivotal in launching my career in France. They took a gamble on me and gave me a chance. I loved my time with Dax; the club and its people were and are out of the ordinary.”

Like Storti, Hasse Fereira or Madeira, Marta had to step out of his comfort zone and travel several thousands of kilometres to try and live the dream of becoming a pro player.

The sacrifice of leaving those he loved most couldn’t go to waste, and he had to do whatever he could to claim his dream of playing in the Top 14, a goal he didn’t doubt for a single minute would happen.

“Without wanting to sound overconfident or arrogant, I knew I would make it. I knew I would play in the Top 14. I devoted my whole self to achieving this goal. I never stopped believing I was going to make it. That’s my piece of advice to everyone who dreams of getting here.

We get to play more high-level fixtures consistently, which helps the team find its rhythm and develop more effectively. It also helps us prepare for the World Cup in a better way.

After excelling for Dax and Colomiers, Marta finally earned the chance to step into the Top 14 universe when Section Paloise signed him in the summer. He earned a place in the starting lineup for the season opener against Montpellier and delivered a player of the match performance, capped by a try.

“The dynamics and rhythm of the game were unbelievably high! Again, I followed my instincts and was hell-bent on doing my best. It worked out well, didn’t it? And my good friend, Manuel Vareiro, was seated right next to where I scored my first Top 14 try.”

Things have continued apace. Marta scored a double against Bayonne, then another brace in Pau’s loss to Lyon. Although he is enjoying life among the Top 14 fireworks, the Portuguese is already counting down the days to the resumption of the Nations Cup in November.

The inaugural tournament began in July, with Portugal losing narrowly to the USA before earning wins over Canada and Tonga in North America. Predictably, Marta scored a try in each Test. They are primed to welcome Chile, Samoa and Uruguay to Lisbon this time around.

“I can’t wait to play in the Nations Cup, and I think the match I’m most looking forward to is the one against Samoa,” Marta says.

“It’s a country from the other side of the world with a huge pedigree and legacy, and they bring a high level of physicality that will really put us to the test.”

In his view, the new tournament is the perfect platform for Portugal to get ready for greater challenges.

“The Nations Cup is a great competition. We get to play more high-level fixtures consistently, which helps the team find its rhythm and develop more effectively. It also helps us prepare for the World Cup in a better way.”

The Nations Cup will also allow Marta to share the dressing room with his fellow Lobos once more, a group of teammates he considers just as important as his own flesh and blood.

“Storti is my brother; Diogo Hasse Ferreira is also my brother, as are Manuel Vareiro, José Madeira, and everyone else. We are a real family, and I couldn’t pick a better one.”

Marta and Portugal have big ambitions. Though he plays down his own impact on the national team, his tries will be central as ever.

“I want be one of the best players for Pau, to play as many matches as possible- tries aren’t that important to me – and to make a name for myself in the Top 14. I want people to know who Rodrigo Marta is, where I come from, and what I can do.

“Concerning Portugal, we want to qualify for the first time for the knockout stage of a World Cup. That’s where our aim is set, and you’d better believe we will do whatever we can to accomplish it.”

Did Marta expect all this to happen when he first started playing rugby seriously? The speed, finishing ability and efficiency which have become his trademarks and propelled him to more than 50 caps soon became obvious. But he remembers the moments on a Lisbon pitch all those years ago when he fell in love with the game.

“The only thing I knew for certain was that rugby would be a part of my life forever.”

Rodrigo Marta scores tries. And much more besides.