Former Japan head coach Lesley McKenzie joins Portugal staff for Rugby World Cup push

Lesley McKenzie has joined Portugal’s coaching staff after stepping down from her role as Japan Women’s head coach, bringing nearly two decades of high-performance experience to a side building toward Rugby World Cup 2027.

The 25-cap Canada international has been appointed as a contact coach under head coach Simon Mannix, with a specific focus on the breakdown, winning collisions and tackle technique. She has also taken on an assistant coaching role at Rugby Europe Super Cup side Lusitanos XV, also run by Mannix.

Portugal’s immediate priority is the World Rugby Nations Cup in Lisbon this November, where Os Lobos will face Chile, Samoa and Uruguay. The longer horizon is Rugby World Cup 2027, where Portugal — having secured qualification through a fourth-place finish at the 2025 Rugby Europe Championship — have been drawn in Pool D alongside Ireland, Scotland and Uruguay. They open against Andy Farrell’s Ireland at the Sydney Football Stadium on 4 October 2027, in just the country’s third-ever World Cup appearance.

McKenzie’s arrival adds considerable pedigree to that project. During her six-year tenure with the Sakura Fifteen, she guided Japan at two Women’s Rugby World Cups and oversaw a landmark 2022 tour of Australia in which Japan beat the Wallaroos 12-10 — the first time the country had defeated a World Rugby top-five ranked side. Her most recent tournament, Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, ended with Japan finishing third in Pool C before a 29-21 victory over Spain in York.

Before her time in Japan, McKenzie spent five years coaching the UBC Thunderbirds — her alma mater — and three years as a development officer for the Wanganui Rugby Football Union in New Zealand. She entered the Japan system in 2018 as an assistant with the Women’s Sevens programme before being elevated to head coach of the XVs side less than a year later.

McKenzie has spoken plainly about the nature of her work. In a 2019 interview with World Rugby, she said: “I’m not in the game to be a female head coach. I’m a rugby coach. The pressure is just inherent in what the task is.”

Portugal’s growing ambition on the world stage was underlined at Rugby World Cup 2023, where the men’s team — having qualified through the final qualification tournament — drew 18-18 with Georgia and pulled off a 24-23 upset against Fiji. McKenzie’s appointment signals a similarly serious intent from the women’s programme as it prepares for its own World Cup debut.