Portugal receives at the close of qualifying for the Rugby World Cup – Observer
Portugal will finish qualifying for the Rugby World Cup 2023 at home, with Russia, according to the calendar sent by Rugby Europe to the federations, to which Lusa had access this Thursday.
The second round of qualifying, which coincides with the 2022 European Championship, starts on the weekend of February 5 and 6, when the Portuguese team visits Georgia, the European champions, before traveling to Romania, in following week, on the 12th or 13th of the same month, for a second journey.
After a week of break, Portugal welcomes the Netherlands (February 26th or 27th) and visit Spain (March 11th or 12th), one week before receiving the Russians, a team that participated in the 2019 Mundial, after the disqualification of the Spaniards and Romanians, for irregular use of players during qualifying.
Right now, Portugal occupies the second place in the qualification, with 14 points, nine less than Georgia and five more than Russia and Romania, teams that have a game in hand, to play next weekend.
Spain and the Netherlands have two games in hand and are following with two and zero points, respectively.
The top two of the 2021 UEFA European Championship (first round) and 2022 UEFA European Championship (second round) aggregate results will qualify directly for the World Cup in France, while the third will have to compete in a play-off tournament with selections from other continents.