Portugal head coach Patrice Lagisquet has announced his squad to face Fiji in Toulouse on Sunday, with Tomas Appleton dropping to the bench and José Lima taking his place as captain and inside-centre in one of five changes to the starting XV from their last game against Australia.
1 Francisco Fernandes
2 Mike Tadjer
3 Diogo Hasse Ferreira
4 José Madeira
5 Steevy Cerqueira
6 David Wallis
7 Nicolas Martins
8 Rafael Simões
9 Samuel Marques
10 Jerónimo Portela
11 Rodrigo Marta
12 José Lima (c)
13 Pedro Bettencourt
14 Raffaele Storti
15 Manuel Cardoso Pinto
Replacements:
16 David Costa
17 Duarte Diniz
18 Anthony Alves
19 Duarte Torgal
20 João Granate
21 João Belo
22 Tomás Appleton
23 Vincent Pinto
• Tomas Appleton drops to the bench with José Lima taking his place as captain and inside-centre in one of five changes to the starting XV from their last game against Australia.
• Francisco Fernandes starts at loose-head prop after playing 26 minutes off the bench last weekend.
• Steevy Cerqueira partners José Madeira in the second row for the second time at RWC 2023 after their draw with Georgia.
• Rafael Simões replaces Thibault de Freitas at number-eight after coming on at half-time last match.
• Manuel Cardoso Pinto will start at full-back for the first time since February 2022 against Romania. He has played just 24 minutes off the bench at RWC 2023
• Nicolas Martins has missed just two of his 49 tackle attempts at RWC 2023. He has been their main target at the lineout with a team-high 14 wins and three steals.
• Raffaele Storti is the only Portuguese player to have scored multiple tries at a Rugby World Cup (2), after four players all scored one each in 2007. He leads the team for defenders beaten (20) and line breaks (5) from only the fifth-most carries (22) and third-most metres (276) for Portugal.
