Ireland captain Craig Casey urges players to make most of Lisbon opportunity

LISBON LIONS: Ireland Rugby Captain's Run at the Estádio Nacional do Jamor, Lisbon. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady.

Ireland captain Craig Casey has urged his players to grasp one last chance to further their long-term Test ambitions before the summer break when they face Portugal in Lisbon on Saturday evening.

The meeting with Os Lobos will be Ireland’s eleventh and last of a season that kicked off officially for many of these players with the first round of URC action in late September, but there is no talk of anyone eying the beach just yet.

Paul O’Connell, the stand-in head coach while Andy Farrell and so many Irish players, coaches and backroom staff members are on secondment in Australia with the Lions, has offered debuts to Hugh Gavin, Shayne Bolton and Alex Kendellen.

A scratch selection impressed last week with a comprehensive dismissal of Georgia in Tbilisi in what were miserably wet conditions. Portugal aren’t as strong as the Eastern Europeans, so this is a major opportunity for some inexperienced faces.

“It’s a real chance for lads to put their hands up,” said Casey after his captain’s run at the Estadio Nacional where Celtic won their European Cup in 1967.

“It is obviously a new coaching staff but we know that those guys in Australia are looking on.

“If you can put your hands up then you are making a massive statement for the autumn and that’s where you want to be. It’s a huge opportunity but also a huge privilege every time you put on an Irish jersey and we don’t take that privilege for granted.”

O’Connell has made five changes in all. Among them is the inclusion at out-half of Jack Crowley who managed only a handful of minutes in Georgia where Sam Prendergast kicked superbly in that comfortable win.

Crowley has had to bide his time and wait for his moments since Prendergast’s elevation to the No.10 jersey last November but Casey is of the belief that this element of competition can only be good for the national team.

“It is awesome to have three tens of that calibre in the squad. You can’t forget about Ciaran Frawley and what he did [against South Africa] last summer as well. The battle there is huge and probably will be for the next ten years. It is something they will have to get used and everyone will probably have to get used to. It’s brilliant for Ireland.”

The stadium here, which still hosts Portuguese football’s Cup final every year, can hold 37,000 people but a crowd of no more than 8,000 is expected come kickoff at 7pm. The hosts have not kicked on since their heroics at the last World Cup.

Former Munster assistant coach Simon Mannix has taken over from Patrice Lagisquet and, while the team has already qualified for the next World Cup in 2027, they should not pose many problems to a second-string Ireland outfit.

Casey, of course, struck a more diplomatic tone.

“We played them in 2023 as a warm-up before the World Cup, in Portugal as well when it was a very hot day and, in fairness to them, they ripped us up at times. So we know how dangerous they can be and we knew going in to the World Cup how dangerous they are and that they would play good rugby.

“Their 15 is absolutely class, [Nuno] Sousa Guedes, his feet are absolutely electric and the other winger [Simao] Bento is a very good player as well. The 13, [Vincent] Pinto, I played against him for France U20s so we know them quite well.

“Their 7 [Nicolas Martins] is a massive threat for them. He is a huge threat at the breakdown, he is an awesome player at the breakdown. He is their talisman and they will look to their 12 as well, [Tomas Appleton], their captain.

“We know how special this game is for them but it is also special for us too.”