Portugal

Early

Portugal played its first ever rugby international in April 1935 against Spain, losing by a single point, 6–5.^[] They played Spain again the following year with Spain winning 16–9. Portugal had more regular competition from the mid-1960s, and won their first game in 1966, defeating Spain 9–3.^[] Portugal played Italy for the first time in 1967, losing 6–3. They also had their first match against Romania soon after and lost by 40 points. They defeated Belgium in 1968, and also played Morocco for the first time.

The first game of the 1970s was a draw against the Netherlands. Portugal managed to draw with Italy (nil all) in 1972 and following that, defeated them 9–6 in 1973. After a number of mixed results throughout the early 1970s, Portugal won five matches in a row from 1979 through to 1981. They played Morocco, who won the encounter. After a 1983 draw against Spain, Portugal managed a seven-game winning streak from 1984 to 1985, including wins over Belgium, Denmark, Morocco, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Zimbabwe. The first Rugby World Cup was held in 1987, though it was by invitation, thus there was no qualifying tournament and Portugal did not participate.

1990s

From 1989 to 1990, the 1991 World Cup qualifiers were held for the European nations. Portugal started in Round 2b in October 1989. They defeated Czechoslovakia 15 to 13 in Ricant to advance to Round 2c. However here they were defeated by the Netherlands 32–3 and eliminated from qualifying.

Portugal again participated in the 1995 World Cup qualifying competition for European teams, starting in Round 1. They were pooled in the West Group, and defeated Belgium and Switzerland, but lost to Spain, advancing into Round 2. Here Wales defeated them, and they lost to Spain.

Portugal began in Pool 3 of Round B in the European qualifying competition for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Portugal won all their group matches, except for the one against Spain, and still finished second in the group, which took them into Pool 3 of Round C. All games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland. Portugal lost 85–11 to Scotland, and 21–17 to Spain. Both Scotland and Spain went through to the World Cup; Portugal went into repechage, where Portugal lost a home and away series to Uruguay.

2000s

In 2002, Portugal began playing for a place in the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Pool A of Round 3 of the European qualifying tournament. They were grouped with Spain and Poland. Each nation only won one game, though on for and against Portugal finished second to Spain. Portugal were knocked out of competition. In 2003–04, Portugal won the European Nations Cup, losing only one match to win their first championship. In 2004, Professor Tomaz Morais, coach of the Portugal national team at both sevens and fifteen a side, was nominated for the IRB's coach of the year award. This was a remarkable achievement for a coach from a third tier rugby nation. Morais has been credited with much of Portugal's progress in recent years.

In 2006, it was announced that Portugal would receive a grant from the IRB to help develop their rugby to Tier 2 standard. Few details were released regarding how the money was spent, but it was hoped it would ensure that Portugal's rugby would be able to move onto the next level. In 2006, the inaugural IRB Nations Cup was hosted in Lisbon. The tournament featured Portugal, Russia, Argentina A and Italy A.

2007 World Cup

Portugal began their qualification campaign for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in 2004, as part of the European Nations Cup Division 1 2004–06 tournament. They won their first match, defeating Ukraine 6–36. They then defeated Georgia 18–14 in their second match, won their third match against the Czech Republic, defeated Russia as well, but then lost to Romania. Portugal then drew with Russia 19-all and lost to Georgia. After a loss to Romania and a win against the Czech Republic, Portugal finished third overall in the standings, and qualified for Round 5.

Round 5 was played in October 2006 as a three match series between Italy, Russia and Portugal. Both Portugal and Russia lost heavily in their matches against Italy, who easily qualified for the finals. Second place came down to the final match of the round in Lisbon. Portugal won the match 26–23 against Russia to make it to Round 6. Round 6 was a home and away series against the Round 5 Pool B winners, Georgia. Portugal lost the first match, but drew 11-all in the second meeting. Georgia went through to the finals, and Portugal entered the repechage round where they defeated Morocco 26–20 on aggregate.

Portugal then faced Uruguay for the last position in the finals. In the first leg of the two-match Repechage series, Portugal won 12–5. In the second game in Montevideo Portugal lost 18–12. On aggregate, Portugal won 24–23, sending them to their first ever World Cup. Having qualified for their first World Cup, several players were subsequently arrested in the ensuing celebrations as a result of an altercation with local police.^[] No charges were laid and the players involved were allowed to leave Uruguay.

In the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Portugal went to Pool C, alongside favourites the All Blacks, Italy, Romania and Scotland. Portugal's highlights included preventing Italy getting a bonus point, scoring a try against the All Blacks, and coming within a try of beating Romania before losing 14–10. They also managed to score in all the four games, unlike Scotland and Romania. The Portugal team were celebrated for their commitment and passion,^[] and for being the only amateur team to make it to the World Cup.

2008–present

After the World Cup, Portugal faced some problems, including the end of the club and international careers of several key players, like Joaquim Ferreira, Paulo Murinello, Samuel Belo and Rui Cordeiro, and achieved only one win over Czech Republic in the final round of the European Nations Cup tournament, finishing in 5th place, their worst result since 2002.

On 1 November 2008, they lost at home against Canada 21–13 in a friendly game. After a disappointing campaign under Tomaz Morais in the 2006-08 edition of the Six Nations B, that would qualify for the 2011 Rugby World Cup finals, Murray Henderson was assigned as Specialist Forward coach.

Portugal missed the second presence at the Rugby World Cup finals, after two surprising losses at home with Georgia (10–16) and Romania (9–20), which the "Lobos" had previously defeated 22–21 abroad. Portugal thus missed the 3rd place that would have granted access to the Rugby World Cup repechage.

Tomaz Morais was replaced by New Zealand coach Errol Brain, in October 2010, with a three years contract. He had mixed results, starting with strong performances but ended up with disappointing games. He was replaced by Frederico Sousa in October 2013.

Portugal lost to Germany in the 2015–16 European Nations Cup Division 1A, finishing last, resulting in relegation for the following year.

After Portugal got relegated to the 2016–17 Rugby Europe Trophy, Portugal went on to win the tournament 3 times in a row until the 2018-19 season, when they were granted promotion to the Rugby Europe Championship. Since then, Portugal have been quite successful in the competition. In the 2020-21 season, they finished 3rd place in a league system and in the 2022-23 season, they finished 1st place in a pool with Romania, Poland and Belgium, which led them to a semi-final with Spain, which they won (27-10), going all the way to the final in Badajoz, which they unfortunately lost to Georgia (38-11).

Portugal qualified for the 2023 Rugby World Cup through the repechage tournament held in Dubai, beating Hong Kong, Kenya and drawing with the USA (16-16) on the last game, winning the repechage tournament on point difference.

They had a successful tournament, coming 4th in Pool C. They drew 18-18 with Georgia and pulled off a shock upset by beating Fiji 24-23. After the tournament, their world ranking was 13th, the highest they had ever been.

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