LONG READ 'We won't ever forget it': Inside the rise of Portugal's wolf cubs

Time can be the best of healers, but it can also lead us to forget events, processes, historical twists and people who made significant changes to the world. The slow but steady pace of time is unavoidable, mesmerising and spine-tingling.

Eight years from now, on 8^th October, Portuguese fans will be celebrating and remembering the 10th anniversary of the sensational feat pulled off by Patrice Lagisquet and his Lobos, having claimed their first Rugby World Cup win on that day.

While the roars of Stade de Toulouse will endure forever, most fans have no idea how the Martas, Stortis, Hasse Ferreiras, Granates, and Portelas came to be. There was a beginning, a middle, and an end to how each of those players became destiny defiers.

Eighteen of the 32-man squad were raised under the ‘Lobinhos a Lobos’ pathway. Most were involved with the programme from the age of 14. From the viewpoint of a Tier One nation, these many success stories might not seem extraordinary, but remember Portugal is far from the top. In a nation where rugby is listed below football, basketball, volleyball and handball in terms of the number of players, the fact a pathway programme has developed some of the most astonishing players on the Emerging Nations scene should be shouted from the rooftops. Despite the limited resources available at the time, staff built a promising system which helped change the trajectory of Portuguese rugby – for a time, if not forever.

For Lobinhos a Lobos, it all started when Tomaz Morais was named as Portugal’s director of rugby, with the former national head coach selecting a team that would design a model to develop future athletes. Dozens of club youth coaches offered a helping hand, turning the strategy into a concentrated effort. The vision to mould young people equipped to succeed in life, as well as fulfil their desire to become a member of Portugal’s wolf pack.

One of the main architects was Rui Carvoeira, a coach who would lead the U18 team for almost seven years, guiding the young Lobos to victories over Scotland and Spain. He opted to enrol as many as 90 players at age grade level.

“One of the first realisations we had was that we didn’t want to only select 26 players for a Rugby Europe U18 or U20,” says Carvoeira, who now works with the youth sides at Portuguese club “Os Belenenses”.

“We wanted more depth and to give the same treatment and chance to a broader number of players. Our idea was to show our young players that playing in a U18 international tournament wasn’t the end goal, but the means to reach a higher purpose.”

The pathway was set to identify players from a young age, introduce them to the values and rules a national team player should abide by, and, finally, teach them the Portuguese brand of rugby. These camps demanded a titanic workload, but for Carvoeira, they were essential.

“The identification work began in the first regional U14 gatherings. We would then proceed to scout them throughout a few regional camps to better understand who they were, their talent, their mindset. For us, those camps were key to identifying who would fit better in the pathway, more than how they were performing for their clubs.”

Henrique Garcia was another of the pathway’s leading figures, working with the union for more than 10 years.

“We were focused on getting to know each player,” Garcia says. “Who they were, where they came from, why they played rugby, what their goals were, what they liked to do in their off time. The player dropout rate was high, especially after players earned the ‘high performance’ status, which would help them get into a better university. We had to find out why it was happening and how we could deal with it. The answer: we had to spend more time with them.”

For the former technical coordinator, the convergence of a variety of people and associations made the process come to life.

“It all began with our three regional associations. From top to bottom, everyone was focused on developing the framework for a workable grassroots pathway. It was a time of strong critical thinking and good discussion among everyone. It made a difference in the long term.”

Amongst the many concepts, ideas and beliefs, Garcia explains the biggest problem was a lack of stability.

“Consistency was the key word. The Portuguese sports culture is, most of the time, weak in the sense people don’t understand that to achieve success, you need time to develop good players. However, we were able to put in practice our ideas and plan, starting with youth national gatherings and going to schools to entice kids to join the sport.”

Circling back to the pathway plan, after identifying and introducing what makes someone become a Lobo, came the third section: the playing style.

“We sought a style that made players constantly move, always looking to create and take advantage of the gaps, repeating the same process all over again,” says Carvoeira. “Take the ball forward, win the gainline, play with your options, the support always ready, inject continuity and impose a structured chaos on the opposition. This was the way Portugal played in the past World Cup, and these were the first two levels of our game plan introduction to them when they were 15 or 16. Fundamentally, a high risk, high reward type of play.

“All we wanted was for the players to be allowed to express themselves and to explore more than one avenue. We pushed them to take risks, to kick, to sidestep, to run with the ball. If a player doesn’t try out those skills when he is 14, he will never fully develop and break from a ‘mould’. The word ‘don’t’ was rarely used in our sessions.”

But did the players understand, from the get-go, what their coaches were trying to instil? For FC Grenoble and one of the leading figures of the Lobos, José Madeira, yes.

“I remember every coach from the regional and national teams telling us the goal wasn’t to play in a U18 or U20 Championship, or to win a game against France, Georgia or Scotland – it was to become senior Portuguese internationals. They assisted us in every way, be it skill-wise or in our nutrition. It was instilled in us the need to become Lobos.

“We were exposed to more rugby, more hours of training on the pitch, in the gym or whatever. It taught us how to be an athlete and what the demands are. It was all about the process and believing in it. We are proof it worked.”

By enforcing a playing style from a young age, Madeira acknowledges the several generations who had gone through the programme were able to push the Lobos into a new era, with shrewd French coach Lagisquet’s input and vision another catalyst.

“We had our own DNA. The staff who worked with us since we were 14 cultivated in us a run-with-the-ball-and-take-risks approach. It doesn’t matter if you are a lock, prop or wing; we all learned how to do a pop pass, how to make a proper offload, how to come in support, how to perform a jackal. They wanted us to believe in running rugby and that everyone could do anything if they put in the work.”

Although some might argue, most players who have followed the Portuguese pathway over agree with their former coaches. Simão Bento, one of the premier talents of his generation, cites the diligence the programme added to his natural ability.

“It was all about commitment, working hard, having the right mindset, believing in your teammates, and doing the extras. They are far more important than just being naturally good at something. And, when we started to walk the Lobinhos a Lobos pathway, we understood that reasoning and mantra.”

Bento, like World Cup heroes Raffaele Storti, Rodrigo Marta and Madeira, joined the pathway at 14. He was later signed as an academy player by ProD2 side Stade Montois, but quickly earned his spot in the senior team.

“While I never dreamt of becoming a professional player until I joined Stade Montois, that pathway made me like rugby even more. Because of those regional and national team sessions, I wanted to become a better player, improve myself, and help my teammates and nation in any way I could. It made us understand better what rugby is. Maybe at the time, it didn’t make much sense, but nowadays, I understand what my coaches were saying.”

Indeed, many of the Lobinhos a Lobos graduates would earn contracts in France; previously a rarity in the Portuguese games.

“It was due to the experience we had accumulated,” Bento says. “From the Rugby Europe U18 Championships to the World Rugby U20 Trophy, we had several competitive experiences that prepared us to take on the challenge. While most of the French academy players had never experienced international competitions or rarely played for their senior sides, we had, giving us an edge.”

But not every player stood out from a tender age. Some needed more time to develop specific skills, while others needed to be counselled and supported in different ways.

“Athletes are not Legos or a machine,” says Carvoeira. “They are people, and people change, for better or worse. We evolve, mature and grow. And let me give you examples. Rodrigo Freudenthal, who would become Portugal Sevens captain, wasn’t even selected for the Rugby Europe U18 Championship. Rodrigo Marta wasn’t up to standard in his first U18 Championship as well. However, as we and their club staff kept believing in them and pushing them, they eventually took the next step and blossomed into fine players.”

For Garcia and Carvoeira, the players’ success didn’t come as a surprise. They had fought every day, hour, minute and second to achieve greatness, and become part of the Lobos’ history.

“You know what the main point of this whole player development programme was?” says Garcia. “The interconnection between everyone. Tomaz Morais understood that to reach long-term success, everyone had to play their part. We needed a plan; we all came up with one and we enacted it.

“The players needed to step into the training centre and feel they were inside a temple. They had to feel the importance of being part of the Portuguese pathway and not treat it as just another thing in their lives. We wanted to instil that mindset in them, so they would have the drive to become full-fledged Lobos.”

Although their role in the stunning performance at World Cup 2023 may not have been widely understood, beating Fiji, drawing with Georgia and competing well against Wales and Australia was enough validation of the programme’s success.

“That World Cup validated the process,” says Carvoeira. “The idea we had almost 15 years ago had completely bloomed. They were there making an impact on rugby’s biggest stage.”

Time can be a powerful healing agent or a disruptive memory-loss potion, capable of entombing facts in the depths of our collective thoughts.

But players like Bento will always cherish forget their upbringing, hoping others will follow in their footsteps.

“It wasn’t about those 80 minutes against Fiji, or what we did in the whole World Cup, it was about every step of the journey. We won the U20s Rugby Europe Championships; we went abroad and claimed our place in historic French teams; and we made sure to take Portugal to the highest level of respect. That pathway allowed us to unlock those feats, and we won’t ever forget it.”