Belenenses wins Agronomia and wins Portuguese Cup in rugby
Francisco Menéres was in focus in the final.
The beautiful final game is coming on Saturday in the Portuguese Cup at 25-20, after Agronomia in which pragmatism took precedence over Portugal’s quality, to the blues of Francisco Menéres’ aim.
In the always windy field A of the Centro de Alto Rendimento (CAR) do Jamor, the opening midfielder of the blues records 100% effort in kicks to posts and ‘signed’ in the final of the national championship, also won by Belenenses, two weeks ago.
The team coached by Joãorra therefore achieved the “double”, by winning the second most important competition in the national rugby calendar for the second consecutive season and sixth in its history.
The start of the game was not even auspicious for the Restelo team, which saw Agronomia arrive at the rehearsal after just 34 seconds, with a brilliant entry from Ethan Cutler, who received a pass from Ignace Rodríguez after recovering the outgoing ball.
Domingos Cabral made a mistake in the transformation for the agronomists, which was his only kick before “target”, but increased the lead of the “whites” to 8 minutes – starting the “lesson” of an attempt by Menéres, two minutes later.
A rehearsal by Tom Sequeira (34 minutes), in “maul”, transformed by Menéres, applied to Belenenses equipment to reduce to 11-11-11, we are already a penalty for the hole, we are already a punishment for justice (40+1 ), putting his team ahead for the first time, but it would still be Agronomy to take the lead for the break (14-13), after Domingos Cabral fought back in the same “coin”.
Cabral (4 and 48) even increased the advantage of the Tapada da Ajuda team to seven points (20-13), despite an uninspired display, he took advantage of Agronomy’s mistakes to recover from the recovery and but the display passed to the front of the marker through Menéres’ boots (50, 66, 75, 80+1).
The victory ended up being well established for “the one who, although not always shown to be calm when he is more stable, were overwhelming in the “mem” and capitalized on the greater experience in relation to the next.
Play in Field A of the Jamor High Performance Center, in Oeiras.
Belenenses – Agronomy, 25-20.
At half-time: 13-14.
Under the command of Ricardo Hawkes, as lined up referees:
– Belenenses: António Santos, Guillermo Lawrie, Lucas Bordigoni, Salvador da Cunha, Manuel Lima, Sebastião da Cunha, David Wallis, Tomás Sequeira, Duarte Azevedo, Francisco Menéres, José Paiva dos Santos, Rodrigo Freudenthal, Rodrigo Marta, Diogo Rodrigues and Manuel Martha.
Also playing: Ruben Medina, Frederico Simões, Anthony Kent, Manuel Pinto, Francisco Núncio, João Freudenthal, Gonçalo Santos and António Núncio.
Essays (1): Tomás Sequeira (34).
Conversions (1): Francisco Menéres (36).
Penalties (6): Francisco Menéres (19, 40+1, 50, 66, 75, 80+1).
Coach: João Mirra.
– Agronomy: Gonzalo Vidal, Francisco Cabral, Samuel Tufuga, Bernardo Cardoso, António Rebello de Andrade, Ethan Cutler, Diogo Sarmento, Francisco Vasconcelos, Ignace Rodríguez, Domingos Cabral, Afonso Vinagre, João Lima, Vasco Ribeiro, Vasco Leite and Manuel Cardoso Pinto .
Also playing: José Leal da Costa, Pedro Vicente, João Fernandes, Augustín Calvi, Manuel Navalhas, José M. Leal da Costa, Antonio Cortes and Guilherme Covas.
Essays (1): Ethan Cutler (01).
Penalties (5): Domingos Cabral (17, 27, 40+5, 44, 48).
Coach: Frederico Sousa.
Disciplinary action: Yellow card for Francisco Cabral (58).
Attendance: around 1,000 spectators.