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Head Coach Patrice Lagisquet has named an extended 39-man Lobos squad to prepare for Saturday’s match against the Argentina XV in Lisbon. All 23 players who pushed Italy to the edge on June 25 are included with 16 of the group playing their rugby outside of Portugal.
With Spain now out of the running, Portugal are suddenly on the brink of qualifying for their first World Cup since 2007, and only second ever. They will have to navigate November’s Repechage tournament successfully but their recent results have vaulted them into the favorites category.
The Argentina XV scored a memorable upset over Georgia on Sunday and are now looking to claim a second victory over a senior international side. Os Lobos will square off against the Lelos in a full test on July 16 in Kutaisi. The two teams played to a draw in Tbilisi on February 6.
LOOSEHEAD PROP
André Arrojado (Técnico)
David Costa (Direito)
Francisco Fernandes (Béziers, FR)
António Machado (Belenenses)
HOOKER
Duarte Diniz (Direito)
Nuno Mascarenhas (Cascais)
Mike Tadjer (Perpignan, FR)
TIGHTHEAD PROP
Anthony Alves (Mont-de-Marsan, FR)
Diogo Ferreira (Dax, FR)
António Prim (Direito)
SECOND ROW
Martim Belo (Cascais)
Steevy Cerqueira (Brive, FR)
José Madeira (Grenoble, FR)
José Rebelo de Andrade (Nottingham, UK)
Duarte Torgal (Direito)
BACK ROW
Vasco Batista (Benfica)
Thibault de Freitas (La Seyne, FR)
João Granate (Direito)
Nicolas Martins (Charente, FR)
Manuel Pinto (Belenenses)
Rafael Simões (CDUL)
SCRUMHALF
Duarte Azevedo (Belenenses)
João Belo (CDUP)
Pedro Lucas (Técnico)
Samuel Marques (Carcassonne, FR)
FLYHALF
Jorge Abecasis (CDUL)
Domingos Cabral (Agronomia)
Jerónimo Portela (Direito)
Francisco Meneres (Belenenses)
CENTER
Tomás Appleton (capt., CDUL)
Pedro Bettencourt (Oyonnax, FR)
José Lima (Carcassonne, FR)
António Vidinha (Cascais)
WING
Rodrigo Marta (Dax, FR)
Vincent Pinto (Pau, FR)
Raffaele Storti (Béziers, FR)
FULLBACK
Simão Bento (Mont-de-Marsan, FR)
Manuel Cardoso Pinto (Agronomia)
Nuno Guedes (CDUP)
