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Portugal change five for showdown with Springboks
By Josh Raisey
Tomas Appleton will captain Portugal this Saturday against South Africa in Bloemfontein, replacing Nicolas Martins, who misses the match.
Martins is one of five changes to the starting XV from the team that beat Namibia 37-22 last week.
The flanker has been replaced by Diego Pinheiro in the No.7 jersey, with Vasco Baptista also taking the place of Joao Granate in the back row at No.8.
The only other change in the pack sees Nicolas Fernandes come in for Antonio Rebelo Andrade in the second row.
The two changes in the back line see fly-half Domingos Cabral drop to the bench with Joris Moura starting in his place, and Simao Bento start at fullback in place of Jose Paiva dos Santos. Manuel Cardoso Pinto will shift to the wing this week after starting at fullback against Namibia.
Looking ahead to the match after naming his Springboks side, Rassie Erasmus said: “Portugal are a quality team as we saw with their victory against Fiji in the RWC, while they also drew their clash against Georgia 18-18.
"They proved that they could compete successfully against some of the top teams in the world and we believe they will lift their game even more this weekend given the magnitude of facing the Springboks.
“This occasion will really excite them, and they’ll certainly give everything to make a statement for the Tier Two nations, so we have to deliver a top-quality performance to get a result."
Portugal XV
15. Simao Bento
14. Manuel Cardoso Pinto
13. Jose Lima
12. Tomas Appleton (c)
11. Rodrigo Marta
10. Joris Moura
9. Hugo Camacho
1. Francisco Fernandes
2. Luka Begic
3. Diogo Hasse Ferreira
4. Nicolas Fernandes
5. Duarte Torgal
6. Jose Maderia
7. Diego Pinheiro
8. Vasco Baptista
Replacements
16. David Costa
17. Pedro Vicente
18. Abel Cunha
19. Antionio R. Andrade
20. Andre Cunha
21. Pedro Lucas
22. Domingos Cabral
23. Jose P. Santos
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Warren, if you think you should stay on coaching Wales, you are beyond deluded. If you love Wales & Welsh rugby as much as you say you do (& I'm sure you probably do) you should resign immediately so this once proud & passionate rugby nation can rebuild without you. How many of your players will make the British & Irish Lions squad.?
It's time to walk the plank.!
Go to commentsYeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
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