Unheralded Portugal have completed the 20-strong line-up for the Rugby World Cup and are hoping that their dream of taking on the mighty All Blacks does not turn into a nightmare.
”Los Lobos” edged out favourites Uruguay in the final play-off tie in Montevideo to take their place in Pool C alongside the Kiwis, Scotland, Italy and Portugal.
”We are all amateurs, it’s just crazy to think that we will be taking on the top teams in the world. It’s a dream come true,” said lock Goncalo Uva who plays his club rugby for Nimes in France.
”We have been working hard for the last four years,” he told L’Equipe newspaper ”and now we must get ourselves properly ready for the World Cup”.
The Portuguese, who will be the only first timers at the competition being hosted by France from September 7 until October 20, will be hoping to avoid the fate of Japan who were on the wrong end of a record 145-17 hammering against the All Blacks at Bloemfontein in June 1995.
Assistant coach Daniel Hourcade has no doubt his side can avoid that fate.
”That’s not the end of it from us, you can believe me,” he said after the upset win over Uruguay.
”We are going to work tremendously hard to produce a great World Cup — to do ourselves justice against the All Blacks, the Scots and the Italians and try to beat the Romanians.”
Unlike at the cricket World Cup in the Caribbean, upsets in rugby’s global equivalent from the likes of minnows Portugal, Namibia and Georgia are unthinkable.
The 20 qualifiers show little change from four years ago in Australia when England defeated the hosts in the final.
The top seeds are the English in Pool A, the Australians in Pool B, favourites New Zealand in Pool C and hosts France in Pool D. The only other previous World Cup winner, South Africa, are in England’s group.
By continental breakdown, Europe is represented by nine teams (England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, Romania, Georgia and Portugal) with five from Oceania (New Zealand, Australia, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji), three from the Americas (Canada, United States and Argentina), two from Africa (South Africa and Namibia) and one from Asia (Japan).
The 20 teams are split into four groups of five with the top two after the September 7-30 group phase qualifying for the quarterfinals which will be held on October 6 and 7, the semifinals on October 13 and 14 and the final at the Stade de France in Paris on October 20.
In all, 12 venues will be used — 10 in France at Paris (2), Bordeaux, Lens, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, St Etienne and Toulouse as well as at Cardiff and Edinburgh. ‒ Sapa-AFP
World Cup pools
Pool A: England, South Africa, Samoa, United States, Tonga
Pool B: Australia, Wales, Fiji, Canada, Japan
Pool C:New Zealand, Scotland Italy, Romania, Portugal
Pool D: France, Ireland, Argentina, Georgia, Namibia