Portugal have made five changes, including dropping captain Tomas Appleton to the reserves for their final Rugby World Cup pool match against Fiji Water Flying Fijians on Monday morning.
Coach Patrice Lagisquet says his selection came from a desire for Os Lobos to remain competitive and to have a chance of winning.
Portugal drew with Georgia 18-18 two weeks ago but is still waiting for its first win at a Rugby World Cup.
The coach says some people could think they want to help Fiji more than Australia but they don’t really care.
He says they just care about themselves and want to keep competing like they did since the first minute of this competition and they still dream of victory.
Lagisquet further says their choices were very difficult for some players to understand because after three and a half months they expected to play, and because of the mindset (to train hard) during this period, they also deserved to play.
He says some of the players have finished their career and they expected to play this last game but they have explained why they have done these choices, even if it’s very difficult for players to accept and understand when they are not in the 23.
Jose Lima was handed the inside center position, and the captaincy for a fourth time.
The four other changes following the 34-14 loss to Australia include Francisco Fernandes at loosehead prop after 26 minutes off the bench last weekend, and Steevy Cerqueira into the second row.
Rafael Simoes replaced Thibault de Freitas at No. 8 in the third change to the pack.
Manuel Cardoso Pinto starts at fullback for the first time since February 2022 after 24 minutes off the bench in the Rugby World Cup.
The @PortugalRugby lineup to face Fiji in Toulouse 👀#RWC2023 | #FIJvPOR pic.twitter.com/516jBEvb7l
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 6, 2023
The Flying Fijians only need a point to qualify for the quarter final.
They take on Portugal at 7am on Monday in Toulouse.
In the upcoming matches, Wales will take on Georgia at 1am tomorrow, England will play Samoa at 3.45am tomorrow, Ireland will play Scotland at 7am tomorrow, Japan will take on Argentina at 11pm tomorrow, Tonga will take on Romania at 3.45am Monday while the Flying Fijians will play Portugal at 7am Monday.
Portugal:
Manuel Cardoso Pinto Raffaele Storti Pedro Bettencourt Jose Lima (captain) Rodrigo Marta Jerónimo Portela Samuel Marques Rafael Simoes Nicolas Martins David Wallis Steevy Cerqueira José Madeira Diogo Hasse Ferreira Mike Tadjer Francisco Fernandes
Reserves: David Costa Duarte Diniz Anthony Alves Duarte Torgal Joao Granate Joao Belo Tomas Appleton Vincent Pinto
Source: AP News
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