Lagisquet makes four changes - Portugal name team to play Georgia
- 1651
Portugal head coach Patrice Lagisquet has named his 23-man squad for the Pool C match against Georgia at Stadium de Toulouse on Saturday, with two changes to his forwards and two in the backs from the starting XV that lost 28-8 against Wales.
1 Francisco Fernandes
2 Mike Tadjer
3 Diogo Hasse Ferreira
4 José Madeira
5 Steevy Cerqueira
6 João Granate
7 Nicolas Martins
8 Rafael Simões
9 Samuel Marques
10 Jerónimo Portela
11 Rodrigo Marta
12 Tomás Appleton (c)
13 Pedro Bettencourt
14 Raffaele Storti
15 Nuno Sousa Guedes
Replacements:
16 David Costa
17 Lionel Campergue
18 Anthony Alves
19 Martim Belo
20 David Wallis
21 Thibault de Freitas
22 Pedro Lucas
23 Manuel Cardoso Pinto
- Diogo Hasse Ferreira replaces Anthony Alves in the front-row while José Madeira comes into the second-row in place of Martim Belo.
-
In the back-line, Pedro Bettencourt replaces José Lima at outside-centre and Raffaele Storti replaces Vincent Pinto on the right wing.
-
There are 15 survivors in the match-day team from the side that lost the 2023 Rugby Europe Championship final against Georgia.
-
In Portugal's last game, Nicolas Martins became only the fifth Portuguese player to score a Rugby World Cup try. Four of their five all-time scorers have been forwards, with Pedro Carvalho Cabral the only back-line player crossing against Scotland at Saint-Étienne in 2007.
- Nuno Sousa Guedes was dangerous with ball in hand against Wales, making a team-high 106m including 78m past the gain-line from 12 carries, one line break and also beating two defenders.
- Tomás Appleton scored Portugal’s only try against Georgia in the 2023 Rugby Europe Championship final.