Marta and Cardoso Pinto close in on 50-cap milestone for Portugal in Nations Cup

Rodrigo Marta and Manuel Cardoso Pinto are on the verge of joining Portugal’s 50-cap club, with both players needing just one more appearance to reach the milestone as Os Lobos prepare for the resumption of the Nations Cup in November.

Both men have represented Portugal 49 times, but one of those appearances came in an uncapped match against Argentina XV, meaning the official half-century may not arrive until Portugal’s second Nations Cup fixture against Samoa on 14 November. Pau centre/wing Marta and Agronomy full-back/wing Cardoso Pinto have both been named in a squad that closely resembles the one that caught the world’s attention at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.

Portugal endeared themselves to a global audience at that tournament with an adventurous, attacking brand of rugby. Marta started all four of Os Lobos’ World Cup matches, and it was his 78th-minute try in Toulouse that secured Portugal’s first-ever World Cup victory — a 24-23 win over a stunned Fiji side.

Since the tournament, the programme has been rebuilt under head coach Simon Mannix following Patrice Lagisquet’s departure. The signs are encouraging: Portugal won the Rugby Europe Championship title for only the second time in their history earlier this year and have lost just one of their last ten matches.

After the first phase of the Nations Cup in July, Os Lobos sit second to Georgia in Pool B. They lost narrowly to the USA in their opening game before bouncing back to defeat Canada and Tonga. The November window sees them face Chile, Samoa and Uruguay on consecutive Saturdays, with all three fixtures to be played on home soil in Lisbon.

Alongside the experienced core — which includes World Cup captain Tomás Appleton, free-scoring winger Raffaele Storti and brothers Nicolas and Lucas Martins — Mannix has handed call-ups to three uncapped players: South African-born hooker Jason Cornelius, former Australia Sevens international Jordan Lee Bacon, and prop Alex Dos Santos. Bacon was part of the Nations Cup squad in July but did not feature in any of the games.

With momentum building under Mannix and two of their most celebrated players approaching a significant personal landmark, Portugal head into the November window with genuine ambitions of topping Pool B.