The Portuguese team, ranked 20th in the World Rugby rankings, was in Pot 4 of the draw and was drawn against Uruguay (14th), from Pot 3, Scotland (9th), from Pot 2, and Ireland (4th), from Pot 1.

The 'wolves' will therefore meet opponents they faced throughout the last year in official World Rugby international test 'window' matches.

Less than a month ago, on November 8, Portugal lost to Uruguay (26-8) in Lisbon, in the first autumn test of this year, in which they later went on to beat Hong Kong (58-12) and Canada (33-27), teams that will also compete in the World Cup.

In July, Portugal faced Ireland for the first and only time, at the National Stadium, and suffered the worst defeat in its history (106-7), even surpassing the loss to New Zealand (108-13) in the 2007 World Cup in France.

Just over a year ago, in November 2024, the Portuguese national team lost in Scotland (59-21).

Scotland, incidentally, will once again cross paths with Portugal in the World Cup, after the two teams faced each other in 2007, in the first-ever meeting between the Portuguese national team in a World Cup, which the Scots won 56-10.

Before these two encounters, Portugal had only faced the Scots once, in 1998, in the qualifiers for the following year's World Cup, and lost 85-11.

Against Uruguay, the 'Wolves' record is more extensive, with three wins and nine losses, the last of which was last month.

World Cup

At Australia 2027, Portugal will make its third appearance in the world's biggest rugby competition, following participations in the 2007 and 2023 editions, both held in France.

In the first edition, Portugal competed in Group C and lost all three matches, against Scotland (56-10), New Zealand (108-13), and Romania (14-10). In the second edition, they caused one of the biggest surprises of the competition, achieving their first victory against Fiji (24-23), after losing to Wales (28-8), drawing with Georgia (18-18), and also being defeated by Australia (34-14).

The next Rugby World Cup will be held between October 1st and November 13th, 2027, in Australia.

In the other groups, New Zealand, finalist of the previous edition, faces Australia, Chile and Hong Kong in Group A, while the current champion, South Africa, will measure forces with Italy, Georgia and Romania in Group B.

Argentina, Fiji, Spain and Canada compete in Group C, France, Japan, the United States and Samoa are part of Group E and England, Wales, Tonga and Zimbabwe are in Group F.