We now know the Portugal Rugby World Cup squad for the 2023 event. 

Head coach Patrice Lagisquet chose to take six props as António Santos and Francisco Bruno made into the final squad. José Rebelo de Andrade didn’t recover from a broken toe, and is replaced by GDS Cascais utility forward, Martim Bello. 

The back-three will be packed with star power as Rodrigo Marta, Vincent Pinto, Raffaele Storti, Simão Bento, Nuno Sousa Guedes, and Manuel Cardoso Pinto are all in. 

The team will be captained by CDUL’s Tomás Appleton.

Portugal starts their Rugby World Cup campaign at the 16th of September against Wales. For all the details on Portugal’s fixtures – and all the other nations – have a read of our Rugby World Cup fixtures here.

Portugal Rugby World Cup squad 2023

Props

David Costa (GD Direito)
Francisco Fernandes (AS Béziers)
Anthony Alves (Stade Montois)
Diogo Hasse Ferreira (Dax Rugby)
Francisco Bruno (GD Direito)
António Santos CF (“Os Belenenses”)

Hookers

Mike Tadjer (Perpignan)
Duarte Diniz (GD Direito)
Lionel Campergue (Bassin D’Arcachon)

Locks 

Steevy Cerqueira (S Chambéry)
José Madeira (Grenoble Rugby )
Duarte Torgal (GD Direito)
Martim Bello (Cascais)

Loose Forwards 

João Granate (GD Direito)
Rafael Simões (CDUL)
Nicolás Martins (Soyaux Angouléme)
Thibault Freitas (Floriac)
David Wallis CF (“Os Belenenses” )
Manuel Picão (GD Direito)

Scrum-halves

Samuel Marques (AS Béziers)
João Belo (CDUP)
Pedro Lucas (Belenenses) 

Fly-halves 

Joris Moura (Valence Romans)
Jerónimo Portela (Direito )

Centres 

Tomás Appleton (CDUL, Captain)
José Lima (Narbonne)
Pedro Bettencourt (Oyonnax) 

Wings

Rodrigo Marta (Colomiers)
Vincent Pinto (Colomiers)
Raffaele Storti (AS Béziers)
Manuel Cardoso Pinto (Agronomia)

Full-backs

Nuno Sousa Guedes (CDUP)
Simão Bento (Stade Montois)

Portugal Rugby World Cup Pool

Portugal have been drawn in Rugby World Cup Pool C alongside Wales, Australia, Fiji and Georgia.

The knockout stages will follow the same format as previous years, with teams from Pools A and B then Pools C and D meeting in the quarter-finals. So Portugal and Argentina could meet in the last eight, for example.

QF1 – Winner Pool C v Runner-up Pool D
QF2 – Winner Pool B v Runner-up Pool A
QF3 – Winner Pool D v Runner-up Pool C
QF4 – Winner Pool A v Runner-up Pool B

Then the semi-finals will be the Winner of QF1 v Winner QF2 and the Winner QF3 v Winner QF4.

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