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Montpellier sign Portugal star Nicolás Martins

Nicolas Martins of Portugal acknowledges the crowd after the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between Wales and Portugal at Stade de Nice on September 16, 2023 in Nice, France. (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)
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Portugal star Nicolás Martins has signed for Top 14 strugglers Montpellier, and will work under director of rugby Bernard Laporte from July until 2026.

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Martins, who is not an academy French player (JIFF program), made it through the ranks playing for Castanet in Fédérale 1 in 2021/22 (at the time, France’s 4th division), before moving to ProD2 side Soyaux Angoulême XV Charente.

Martins’ career took an astronomical turn when Patrice Lagisquet called him up for Os Lobos for the 2022 Summer Tour, solidifying his status as a first-team player in 2023, and finishing as one of the top tacklers at the Rugby World Cup.

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At 25 years of age, Martins will have his first taste of the Top 14 and it is expected to be an intense fight to earn a starting berth, as Montpellier will have a powerful set of loose forwards at their disposal with the likes of Lenni Nouchi, Yacouba Camara, Sam Simmonds, and Billy Vunipola.

RugbyPass approached Martins for a comment, but the loose forward made no remarks as he is still committed to helping SAXV, as they are currently fighting to avoid relegation from the ProD2.

Montpellier are also in a relegation scrap, as they languish in 13th place. If Laporte’s team finish 13th, they will be forced to play a play-off match against the ProD2 runner-up, to be determined in June.

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SB 50 minutes ago
It's premature to anoint Ruben Love as the All Blacks No.10 without winning anything

Please do not lie to me. Proctor had some nice moments but overall was not very good by anyone’s imagination. If he was, he’d be guaranteed to be the 13 this year and that’s certainly not the case. From his misread against Attissogbe in Dunedin to his intercept for Kolbe or his defensive lapse with Tupaea to allow Dingwall to waltz in, he showed a lot of deficiencies that we didn’t see exposed as much in Super Rugby.

As for Reece, he started the season as first choice winger but got concussed early in Dunedin against France C/D. Then he came back and put in an ineffective performance against them in Hamilton. A couple of pick and gos, that was about it. Then in Argentina for the first test he had a couple of walk in tries, nice finishes that you’d expect from any international winger. Then in the second test he was atrocious, absolutely bullied as part of a back 3 which was aerially taken apart in a match where the All Blacks were dominated. Watch the replay on YouTube if you like, if you remove your one eyed perspective and mentality (I know it will almost be impossible for you) then it will be very clear to you. The back 3 of Ioane, Reece and Jordan was not good aerially however the great Super Rugby winning coach Scott Robertson said after the game they were expecting a lot of aerial contests. Makes you question why that back 3 was selected in the first place, although it certainly wouldn’t be the only selection you’d question under Razor. Of course the quality of M. Carreras, Delguy and Mallia make a difference too. Playing in a higher standard of competition has helped them, I’m sure you know where they play their club rugby. To compound that, Reece then was yellow carded for a boneheaded one hand out intercept which was New Zealand’s third sin binning of the match.



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