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Simon Mannix's Portugal bags big win over World Cup regulars

Nicolas Martins of Portugal (R) plays against Davit Niniashvili of Georgia (L) during Rugby Europe Championship match between Georgia and Portugal at Stade Jean Bouin on March 17, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Antonio Borga/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

Simon Mannix’s career as Portugal’s head coach began in the best possible way, as the Lobos claimed a win on Namibia’s turf, with a convincing 37-22 result.

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The home team, inspired by Tiaan Swanepoel kicking from the tee, landed a 6-point lead in the opening minutes before the Portuguese came biting back with a try. Domingos Cabral punted the ball in Rodrigo Marta’s direction, with the fan-favourite wing dotting it down. Cabral converted from the corner.

In the following quarter, both teams exchanged blows, but the Portuguese would come out on top. Nicolás Martins, for Portugal, and Max Katjijeko, for Namibia, added their names to the score sheet.

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Mannix’s side were in control for most of the first 40 minutes, showcasing a well-oiled set piece, while Allister Coetzee’s men had a good chance at taking the lead before half-time only to lose control in the last phase of play.

Fixture
Internationals
Namibia
22 - 37
Full-time
Portugal
All Stats and Data

After a short rest, Namibia seemed to have the upper hand, until a flourish of steps from Cabral opened enough gaps for wing José Paiva dos Santos to escape through and dive over the try line. The European visitors didn’t take their foot off the gas pedal, looking to build on their lead as opposed to resting on their laurels.

Swanepoel was successful with four more penalty kick attempts but it ultimately wasn’t to be enough. With fifteen minutes left on the clock, Portugal fullback Manuel Cardoso Pinto pulled off a magic trick, side-stepping a couple of Namibian defenders to raise the score to 32-22, leaving Manuel Vareiro to add the extras in his debut for the Portuguese national team.

The last time Portugal visited Namibia in 1990 they conceded a substantial 86-09 loss.

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The Lobos now head to Bloemfontein where they will meet the Men’s Rugby World Cup champions, the Springboks. As for the Welwitschias, this was their last fixture of the July Internationals.

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Comments

1 Comment
T
Toaster 242 days ago

Awesome
They were a shining light at the World Cup

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R
RedWarriors 23 minutes ago
How Dupont-less France tossed a grenade into Ireland's Grand Slam celebrations

We conceded 42 we lost by 15. The intercept was a 14 pointer. Ramos doesn’t do that its a try under the posts. But France can do that. The victory over Italy did not get the credit it deserved in my opinion. That was less about Italy reverting to bad old days and more about French brilliance.

I just think credit is due to France for keeping Ireland scoreless in the first 20.

Ireland had chances but we haven’t been clinical inside opponents 22.

The disparity in lineout success was also huge.

Not only are France ahead of Ireland in lineout stats but in that stat is a lot of their throws to the back of the lineout. Ireland have had problems since before the world cup. Something is wrong there and we need a new lineout coach: there I said it.

In all the set pieces and in every stat, France were better than Ireland leading into the match. I had hoped home advantage or coming up against a quality team might show an equalization of those numbers but that didn’t happen.

France’s defense and clinicalness were immense and the latter heaped major pressure and scoreboard pressure on Ireland. When the 2nd LBB try went in it was clear to all that the match was out of reach. The Dynamic Toulouse forwards were on, Ireland were tired from chasing the match.

I think without the Lowe injury it might have become more of a classic match, but really only one winner. Even the first try, Atonio and a friend take a step out beyond the maul. Means Nash has to go around them to cover the blind side. Not illegal, just accurate and clever. A lot of Irish accuracy in their match.


Lastly a stat i’d love to see is tries per line break in a match. Toulouse were above the 50% against Leicester. France are not far off that this year barring the outlier England match. What France/Toulouse are doing after a line break now ti achieve such a high conversion rate bears more looking at.

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