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Ireland to play first ever Test match against Portugal in 2025
As announced by the Portuguese union, Portugal and Ireland will meet in the Summer of 2025, making this the first game between the two European nations.
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While the British and Irish Lions will be touring Australia with Andy Farrell at the helm, the current number-one ranking team of the World will have a busy next July.
As revealed by the Portuguese Rugby Union president in a recent interview to the Portuguese media outlet Observador: “We had already tried to book two games against the best teams of the World, but due to a tight schedule it wasn’t possible… As we [Portugal] retained our position in the World Rugby rankings, there’s an interest from the top nations to play against us. As such, I can confirm that we will be playing Ireland in the Summer of 2025.”
It is still unclear where the fixture will take place, but as announced in July past, Ireland is already set to tour Romania and Georgia in the Summer of 2025, hinting that Portugal will be hosts.
The Lobos have lately played in the Estádio Nacional do Jamor and Estádio do Restelo, two football venues. With still no official confirmation from either unions, sources close to the Portuguese have disclosed that the match will be played on the 12th of July with the Estádio do Algarve as the chosen venue.
In July, David Humphreys, IRFU’s performance director, explained to the Irish Independent the reasoning behind the tour to those nations: “At this stage, the fixture list is for Georgia and Romania. It’s still to be confirmed exactly how it’ll look, but we’re very keen to, from a touring point of view, get an opportunity for those players who aren’t [with the Lions]”
The last time Ireland met Romania, the Irish beat the Stejarii 82-08 in their opening match in the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Three years prior, the Irish defeated Georgia 23-10 in the Autumn Nations Cup 2020.
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Porto would be a perfect destination for this game... flights from Ireland... airport to stadium metro line..
Great news. A chance to develop Ireland's attacking play.
Both nations did play a couple of matches behind closed doors in 2023 as part of Ireland's training camp and Portugal's build up. Word was that Portugal gave Ireland a hard time. This is good for Portugal on top of the SA test earlier this year.