Brazil Roster Named for Hong Kong and Belgium

Brazil will play host to Hong Kong and Belgium this month. The matches will take-place on July 20 and July 27 in São Paulo. Head Coach Emiliano Caffera is preparing for Brazil’s target of qualifying for Rugby World Cup 2027. Os Tupis are looking to be debutants at Australia 2027 are are both Belgium and Hong Kong.

The matches will count towards World Rankings. At present Brazil is ranked 29th in the world, Belgium 28th and Hong Kong 24th. 24 teams will compete at Rugby World Cup 2027. South America’s World Cup qualifiers are to begin in August.

Belgium upset Portugal in the Rugby Europe Championship earlier this year. This is an indication of a tough opponent set to tour South America and take-on Brazil. Belgium and Brazil previously met once before; Brazil were 23-19 upset winners over Belgium in Brussels in 2017.

Hong Kong is also an opponent with one prior test match against Os Tupis. The previous match took place in 2011. Hong Kong were 37-03 winners at the neutral venue of Dubai.

Caffera has selected a 36-man roster for the test matches against Hong Kong and Belgium. His roster is heavy on Cobras, that being players from Super Rugby Americas. 30 of the 36 played for the Brazilian franchise in Super Rugby Americas 2024.

 

JULY 2024 INTERNATIONALS – BRAZIL FIXTURES

Sat, July 20 Brazil vs Hong Kong (São Paulo, BR)

Sat, July 27 Brazil vs Belgium   (São Paulo, BR)

 

RETURNEES AND DEBUTANTS

The roster notably features the inclusion of props Matheus Rocha and Wilton Rebolo. They have 20 and 36 prior caps for Os Tupis respectively. A stay from the former Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) is that when Brazil’s scrum is performing well, Os Tupis can be a ferocious underdog.

The roster also sees the inclusion of Frenchman Carlo Mignot. He played some matches at center for Os Cobras this year. Three other uncapped names are Nicolás Alkmin, João Lucas Marino and Maiki Lemes. Alkmin and Marino are former Brazilian u20 props. Lemes is a flanker also with u20 experience.

Inside back Nicolás Azevedo has been included. He did not play for Os Cobras but has played 7’s for Brazil. Uncapped flanker Renato Santos played for Cobras as did Widson Menezes who has also played for Brazil 7’s. Guilherme Oliveira from SPAC and Hélder Bryan Lúcio from Poli are also uncapped.

Meanwhile, one of the greats of Brazil’s golden era is back. Moíses Duque is home from playing in Portugal and on the roster. The veteran of 61 caps has priceless experience. His return is a massive lift for the team with Rugby World Cup Qualifiers just around the corner.

Duque had an excellent season in Portugal. He scored 164 points to be the 6th best scorer overall for the season. He plays his rugby for Académica Coimbra. The team finished the season in 7th. Direito were champions.

 

MISSING NAMES

Two players were selected but were unable to be a part of the roster for personal reasons. They are front-rower Caique Silva and second-rower Matteo Dell’Acqua. They have 31 and 10 test caps for Brazil respectively.

Props Henrique Ferreira (6 caps) and Brendon Alves (3 caps) are out though injury. Their non-availability underlines the importance of Matheus Rocha’s return.

The roster has Carlo Mignot included from France. There was a move to have another as Vannes winger Théo Bastardie was offered a place but declined. The Frenchman qualifies for Brazil via ancestry.

 

BRAZIL FORWARDS

HOOKER
David Muller (Cobras; 1 cap)
Endy Willian Pinheiro (Cobras; 11 caps)

PROP
Hélder Bryan Lúcio (Cobras; uncapped)
João Lucas Marino (Cobras; uncapped)
Leonel Moreno (Civitavecchia, Italy; 8 caps)
Levy Marinho (Cobras; 1 cap)
Matheus Rocha (CDUL, Portugal; 20 caps)
Nicolás Alkmin (Cobras; uncapped)
Wilton Rebolo (Los Angeles RC, USA; 36 caps)

SECOND-ROW
Cleber Dias (Cobras; 42 caps)
Ben Donald (Cobras; 2 caps)
Gabriel Oliveira (Cobras; 4 caps)
Gabriel Paganini (Cobras; 33 caps)

BACK-ROW
Pedro Aparecido (Cobras; 1 cap)
André Arruda (Cobras; 41 caps)
Matheus Cláudio (Cobras; 13 caps)
Adrio de Melo (Cobras; 12 caps)
Maiki Lemes (Cobras; uncapped)
Rafael Teixeira (Cobras; 1 cap)
Renato Santos (Cobras; uncapped)

 

BRAZIL BACKS

SCRUM-HALF
Nicolas Azevedo (Jacareí; uncapped)
Felipe Gonçalves (Cobras; 11 caps)

FLY HALF
João Amaral (Cobras; 2 caps)
Lucas Spago (Cobras; 9 caps)

CENTER
Moisés Duque (Académica Coimbra, Portugal; 61 caps)
Carlo Mignot (Cobras; uncapped)
Victor Silva (Cobras; 3 caps)
Lorenzo Massari Temer (Cobras; 13 caps)
Robert Tenório (Cobras; 27 caps)

WING
Daniel Lima (Cobras; 17 caps)
Sérgio Luna (Cobras; 1 cap)
Widson Menezes (Cobras; uncapped)
Guilherme Oliveira (SPAC; uncapped)
Ariel Rodrigues (Cobras; 12 caps)

FULLBACK
Robson Morais (Cobras; 3 caps)
Lucas Tranquez (Cobras; 47 caps)