Portugal captain Tomás Appleton set his side the goal of beating Wales at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, and feels that “crazy” ambition helped Os Lobos win against Fiji later in the tournament.
Though they lost against Wales, Portugal ended a five-match losing streak in the tournament in a draw against Georgia before beating Fiji in the final round of the pool stage.
Compared to the 2007 World Cup, where they had ended the pool stage with just one losing bonus point and a points difference of -171, they concluded the latest tournament with six points in the table and a points difference of -39.
Portugal had shown drastic improvement in the cycle leading up to 2023 too, being promoted back into the Rugby Europe Championship in 2019, running Italy close in 2022 and having to see off the USA to reach the World Cup in France.
But when Appleton suggested that his troops could replicate Japan’s 2015 achievement of downing a tier one nation in their tournament opener, he was initially met with ridicule.
“After our first training session I said: ‘You’re going to call me crazy, but we’re going to win against Wales,’ and everyone started laughing. The day after I said the same again, and one or two players started laughing. The third time I said it, no-one laughed.” Appleton reminisced, speaking on The Rugby Paper Podcast.
“The week after, other people were saying that we were going to win against Wales, and our preparation from then onto the three months before the World Cup was just focused on winning against Wales.
“Of course we went into the game against Wales and lost, but the seed of feeling we needed something to shock the world was there, and in a really typical Portuguese way we left it for the last game and the last minute against Fiji.
“We had it in our heads that Fiji had lost to Uruguay in 2019, and we knew they were a team that sometimes could relax a bit. They’re the kind of team that could win against England, Wales or Australia, and then can lose against Portugal or Uruguay.
“So that was our last chance to win in the World Cup, and we managed to do it.”
On their return to Portugal, Os Lobos were met with a heroes’ welcome as they disembarked the plane from France.
Appleton was struck by the extent of the reaction the players received when they got home, demonstrated to him when he discovered some of the country’s biggest figures had taken a keen interest in their progress.
“It was like we were world champions,” he said. “Thousands of people were in the airport waiting for us, it was really a moment that I’ll never forget.
“After that, all of the things that we had: the media coverage, the TV programmes, the reception with the Portuguese president at his residence, were special.
“The day after [the reception] we were invited to watch the football team, that was the time I met Cristiano Ronaldo.
“It was really nice because I thought [the footballers] had no idea about Portugal at the Rugby World Cup, but when I was waiting for Cristiano at the door of the changing room the team doctor said they’d watched every game. That was very impressive.”
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