Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Portugal will be playing at Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia. Os Lobos booked their spot in the tournament by beating Belgium and Germany in qualifying matches. The result is that Portugal will play in a third Rugby World Cup and do so in back-to-back Rugby World Cups for the first time.
The Portuguese have previously competed at two Men’s Rugby World Cups. Portugal debuted at the 2007 event and played in 2023. Both tournaments were in France while 2027 will see Portugal playing Rugby World Cup matches outside of France for the first time.
Portugal’s win over Belgium was hard-fought. The 40-30 win critically saw Os Lobos securing a bonus point win while denying Belgium any competition points. Belgium thus needed to recover by beating Romania in round two while a Portuguese win over Germany meant the job was done.
Frenchmen Nicolás Martíns and Hugo Camacho both scored first-half doubles for Os Lobos. The tries came without Germany scoring any points. Germany got on the scoreboard in the second-half. Any chance of a comeback was thwarted; Simão Bento’s score in the right-hand corner made it 42-07. Further tries came before Felix Lamas scored for Germany on full-time for a 56-14 final score.
Portugal are yet to face Romania. The match will be a road fixture for Os Lobos on February 15. Portugal will be after a win to finish top of the pool and secure a favorable Rugby Europe Championship Semi Final. Romania also have wins over Germany and Belgium in their Rugby World Cup Qualifiers thus far.
The qualifiers are organized in two pools of four. Pool A consists of Georgia, Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland while Pool B is comprised of Belgium, Georgia, Germany and Portugal. Not only do the two four all qualify for the World Cup, but they all advance to the Semi Finals where the seeding will be finalized.
The four to qualify for Australia 2027 will do so as Europe 1, Europe 2, Europe 3 and Europe 4. Three of the remaining teams will be eliminated with Europe 5 entering global repechage.
 PORTUGAL  40-30 BELGIUM |
PORTUGAL 56-14 GERMANY |
