Rugby World Cup 2023: Portugal arrive to heroes’ welcome after first World Cup win

The Portugal team have arrived home to a huge crowd of support following their return from the Rugby World Cup.

Members of the squad landed in Porto to be greeted by hundreds of fans, scenes usually common for the stars of the national football team.

The Portuguese pulled off a stunner of an upset with a late try followed by a conversion in the dying seconds to beat Fiji 24-23 on Monday for their first World Cup win after a storming end to their campaign and the tournament’s pool stage.

Fiji squeaked through with a losing bonus point to be the last team to make it to the quarter-finals, but the manner of progression was nowhere near what the Flying Fijians, or the rest of the rugby world, were expecting.

Having twice led, Os Lobos — the Wolves — of Portugal were 23-17 down with two minutes to go and facing another near-miss. Right wing Raffaele Storti picked up from the back of a ruck, went belting down the short side and flicked inside to fellow wing Rodrigo Marta to score and set up a conversion for history.

🇵🇹 The airport in Lisbon is absolutely packed with supporters to welcome the Portugal team home! pic.twitter.com/nCiQT5jPr9

— Tier 2 Rugby (@T2Rugby) October 10, 2023

❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/R2RqmM39wg

— Francisco Isaac (@francisaac87) October 10, 2023

🇵🇹 Portugal on returning home are set to meet the President at Palácio Nacional de Belém this week and on Friday will be honoured by the Portuguese Football Federation where they will be guests at the Portugal vs Slovakia game at the Estádio do Dragão. https://t.co/kE08XtLoyr

— Tier 2 Rugby (@T2Rugby) October 10, 2023

Two weeks ago at the same stadium in Toulouse, Portugal missed a last-second kick and the chance of a breakthrough win in an 18-18 draw with Georgia.

This time, halfback Samuel Marques stroked it sweetly home.

“It’s incredible. It’s unbelievable,” said Portugal coach Patrice Lagisquet, a France great who greeted the frenetic finish with a pump of his arm and a huge grin in the coaches box. “They always find resources I never expect. The way they could score, it’s amazing.

“Even if we work a lot to be able to do things like that, they still surprise me after four years. It is an incredible group, an incredible team.”

The win over Fiji was 34-year-old Portugal hooker Mike Tadjer’s last game for his country before retirement.

“I can die tomorrow,” he said. “I have retired after this World Cup. To finish like that, it is unbelievable for me. For four years we built (towards) this.”

Portugal were the last team to qualify for the World Cup but have moved up to 13th in the latest World Rankings, just behind 2019 quarter-finalists Japan.

Get full coverage of the Rugby World Cup.