Portugal on Rugby World Cup draw: 'We're not there just to go as tourists'

Ex-All Black Simon Mannix is heading to his first Rugby World Cup, leading Portugal in their second-straight World Cup appearance and wanting to push the boat out a little further than they did in 2023.

Portugal will face Uruguay, Scotland, and Ireland in Pool D at the tournament, opponents who are not unfamiliar to Mannix’s squad.

The coach reacted to Wednesday’s pool draw in Sydney with optimism and ambition two years out from the tournament.

“Firstly, we’re very happy to qualify for the World Cup,” he said. “It’s two World Cups in a row now, so that’s exciting. We know our pool is going to be very tough. We’ve played all these teams in the last 15 months, and the results have not been good.

“There’s a difference between where we are now, though, and where we can get to, and I’m excited about the challenge. We’re not there just to go as tourists; we want to perform, and we want to perform well.”

Before taking a more in-depth look at Portugal’s opponents, Mannix was asked what being involved in a Rugby World Cup meant to him.

“I’m really excited about it. I would have loved to have drawn the All Blacks, obviously, from a personal viewpoint. I know there were players who would love it if we’d drawn France, but we’ve also got Irishmen in our staff, so they’ll be delighted as well.

“It’s so exciting for us, and I think for any coach or player to be involved in a national team and particularly a Rugby World Cup right down the southern hemisphere, it’s an experience these guys will never forget, and they’ll probably never experience again in their lives and touring Australia and seeing all that it has to offer.”

Fixture

Internationals

Portugal

33 - 27

Full-time

Canada

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Narrowing in on Scotland, Mannix said the world No.9 team pose a polished threat.

“I think Scotland are extremely well-organised, extremely well-coached, very disciplined. They’ll be ready to go, and I know they’ve had criticism levelled at them lately, so I have no doubt they’ll be extremely well prepared. There’ll be no underestimating anyone in our pool.”

Turning his attention to Ireland and Uruguay, Mannix was asked how he would look to adapt for each game of the pool stages.

“Let’s just hope we can keep up with Ireland this time round, cause we couldn’t keep up with them in July. These are teams you’ve just got massive respect for, the coaching groups in all of those countries.

“Uruguay will be a lot more physical, a lot more confrontational. They’re certainly very well organised, and they have a lot of access to their players, which allows them to obviously spend a lot of time together, and when they came to play us here in November, they certainly looked like a team that had played a lot of rugby together.

“So we’ve got to overcome those difficulties and those challenges, and we’ve just got to perform. We know Ireland’s pedigree as the number four team in the world, and Scotland at number nine.”

Mannix was bullish about the future of rugby in Portugal and was hoping to embrace new talent for the 2027 event.

“The exciting thing for me is the amount of young talent that we’re developing in Portugal, which even makes you look to 2031. We’re developing a group now, which I believe will make us very competitive in our pool.

“To give evidence, I just have to look at the performance of our under-20 team in the European Championships, who’ve won it two years in a row with polished performances. This is something we’re very proud of that we’ve been able to unearth young players who don’t really play a lot of club rugby, and here in Portugal, when they get an opportunity in the ‘Lusitanos’ jersey, they play extremely well.”