Te Awamutu Sports head coach Travis Church (facing) has signed with S.L. Benfica Rugby in Portugal. Photo / Justin Miezenbeek
Te Awamutu Sports head coach Travis Church (facing) has signed with S.L. Benfica Rugby in Portugal. Photo / Justin Miezenbeek
Te Awamutu Sports head coach and 2023 Hurricanes Poua assistant coach Travis Church has signed with S.L. Benfica Rugby - Portugal’s first professional rugby club.
The new S.L. Benfica head coach will bring Te Awamutu Sports reps Latrell Smiler-Ah Kiong and Manase Mohuanga to add to the Lisbon-based club’s roster.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’m grateful to be able to represent myself, my family and Te Awamutu in Portugal. I’m looking forward to experiencing how it is overseas. Not only am I grateful but it’s a blessing to be able to showcase what I can do on and off the field in another country,” Mohuanga says.
Smiler-Ah Kiong is grateful for the opportunity and hopes to put his best foot forward in Portugal.
“Also it’s another great pathway to experience the world through rugby, for anyone who’s willing to step outside their comfort zone.”
Church says that professionalism is a major step in a positive direction for Portugal rugby.
“I’ve never been to Portugal. This is the second season of this team being professional. they had their inaugural pro season last year, 2022/2023, so it’s quite neat coming in the year after.
“I can iron out a few teething problems and get to look over the programme and fine-tune it.”
Te Awamutu Sports' Manase Mohuanga (left), and Latrell Smiler-Ah Kiong will head to Portugal. Photos / Doug Ward & Justin Miezenbeek
Former Chiefs player and ex-Portugal head coach Errol Brain had reached out to several New Zealand coaches asking if they were interested in the role and Church’s name got thrown into the ring.
One of 10 teams in the Campeonato Nacional de Rugby Divisão de Honra, Benfica haven’t won the Portuguese Championship since 2001 - the last time they also won the Iberian Cup - a knock-out competition played annually by Spanish and Portuguese clubs.
Church says that the competition is getting stronger and stronger. He hopes to help his new side build on their semifinal finish last season.
“Their set piece is what I’ve seen is a strength - their scrum and line-outs. They have a fast, open, flowing, good ball-handling type game. It’s going to be really interesting to hit the ground and check it out.
“I want to bring Benfica back to being a powerhouse of Portuguese rugby.”
Founded in 1904, Benfica is a massive sporting organisation and their champion football team is surrounded by a massive fan base. They are the most decorated club in Portugal.
Formed 20 years later, Benfica’s rugby club expect big things in their centenary year - a championship would be the cherry on top.
Housed at the incredible Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica (a.k.a Estádio da Luz), the team have access to many facilities including a restaurant, swimming pools, an indoor dojo, an outdoor synthetic pitch for night training and an indoor gym.
Sponsored by Adidas, there is also an Adidas store onsite.
A general view of Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal - 2014. Photo / Getty Images
“Part of the enticement is to be around high-performance athletes and coaches. Not just rugby, but other codes that I can look deep into. Look into the biomechanics of and see how their high-performing athletes, coaches and management work - I think that would be massive for me heading forward,” Church says.
After Te Awamutu Sports travels to the Amateur Rugby World Cup later in September, the Te Awamutu trio will fly to Lisbon on October 1.
“We’ll be straight into fulltime code. Then I’ll be back [in New Zealand] at the end of May and open to doing some coaching before heading back for October,” Church says.
Benfica rugby co-ordinator Rodrigo Santos Alves says that they were looking forward to Church bringing his knowledge and experience to the club
“What we expect from Travis, is to be a sort of director of rugby. The main coach of the first team but to also organise the environment in the club, from bottom to top, and to bring us the New Zealand culture. When the culture is good, it’s very important for us to bring it to our club.”
Previously Benfica had part-time coaches but they feel that it’s important to have a fulltime coach to build for the future.
“It’s an investment for us, not a money investment, it’s a structure investment because we need to change. What the club is doing is a big effort to bring in a coach who can disrupt what we have from the past and move us forward, and win.
“We have been growing over the last seasons. The last time we won, I was a player. We never won it again but recently we reached the semifinal of the Portuguese Cup.
“We’ve maintained the core team from last season that got some good results. My goal is to win when we have our 100th anniversary. It’s like you go to a casino and you go all in - that’s our expectation.”
Santos Alves says that they are the only team that has GPS trackers for the players, meaning they can have control over the players’ performances.
They’ve brought in several Portuguese players this year to give the squad more depth and he believes they can match any team in the competition.
“The teams will do whatever is necessary to beat us. In my point of view, we will be the team to beat,” he says.
“Last season, they didn’t expect us to be so competitive but this season they will not look at us the same as they did last time.”
