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Pro D2 top try scorer among 8 uncapped players in 42-man Portugal squad
Simon Mannix’s Portugal will head into the Autumn Nations Series with a couple of new additions, as CA Brive’s and Pro D2’s top try scorer, Lucas da Silva, is expected to make his debut for the Lobos.
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After years of rumours, the hooker will finally have a chance to break onto the international scene, building upon his impressive season start.
Da Silva’s contract with Brive will be up come June 2025, and with Stade Français, USA Perpignan and Provence lining up to place a bid, the possibility of playing for Portugal might raise his value amongst the Top 14 clubs.
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The Autumn Nations Series will also mark scrum-half Samuel Marques’ return to Test match action, after missing out on the 2024 Men’s Rugby Europe Championship and July tour to Africa. The AS Béziers-Hérault star has already amassed a total of 99 points in this year’s Pro D2 and will feature in the game against Scotland.
Trailblazers Simão Bento and Raffaele Storti will feature in both tests, with the former recovering from an injury that kept him out since early September. Bento scored two tries in Stade Montois’s loss against Provence in last weekend’s round of the Pro D2.
Francisco Fernandes (AS Béziers-Hérault, prop), Joris Moura (Valence Romans, fullback) and Rodrigo Marta (Colomiers, utility back) are the biggest absences in the squad, and won’t feature in any of the Tests. Marta played a key role for Portugal in the last four years but has sustained an injury and will be out for the next five weeks.
Simon Mannix, who has been in charge of the Portuguese national team since May, was able to pick a star-studded squad and has in his sights on a potential win against the Eagles.
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Portugal will first host the USA in Coimbra on November 9, before travelling to Scotland to face Gregor Townsend’s side at Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium on the 16th, twenty-six years after their first game against the Scots.
Portugal squad
Forwards
David Costa
Abel Da Cunha
Diogo Hasse Ferreira
António Machado Santos
Márcio Pinheiro – uncapped
António Prim
Cody Thomas
Luka Begic
Lucas Da Silva – uncapped
Santiago Lopes – uncapped
Pedro Vicente
Martim Belo
Steevy Cerqueira
António Rebelo de Andrade
José Rebelo de Andrade
Duarte Torgal
Vasco Baptista
Frederico Couto
André Cunha
João Granate
José Madeira
Nicolas Martins
Diego Pinheiro Ruiz
Backs
Hugo Camacho
António Campos – uncapped
Enzo Lopes – uncapped
Pedro Lucas
Samuel Marques
Hugo Aubry
Domingos Cabral
Manuel Vareiro
Tomás Appleton
Gabriel Aviragnet – uncapped
Vasco Leite – uncapped
José Lima
Fábio Conceição
Lucas Martins
José Paiva Dos Santos
Sebastião Stilwell – uncapped
Raffaele Storti
Simão Bento
Manuel Cardoso Pinto
