Portugal are the second-tier European champions after their win last weekend in the final against the Georgian ogre. A first in 22 years, and confirmation of the progress made after a superb 2023 World Cup. José Madeira, the Grenoble back-rower, looks back on the feat that puts Portugal back on the world rugby map.

I imagine the result is hugely satisfying for your national team and for you? Yes, that is exactly it. Georgia had been dominating the tournament for eight years so it really was a big challenge to take on. But we did it, we managed to stay tight together, as a team, and to meet those challenges.

You also managed to string matches together and avoid falling into the trap, perhaps, of game management, particularly against Spain… Yes, I can tell you we were a little nervous before the semi-final at home against Spain, because for us it is a big derby against our neighbours. It is a very hard match every time, but we handled it very well. We were very good in that match, especially in defence, and that is what we managed to reproduce against Georgia too. I think defence was the big strength for us during this European campaign.

And then there is the way the final unfolded, completely mad: a yellow card, you are 12-3 down, but you win the second half with a lot of authority and composure… That was the instruction at half-time in the final. We told ourselves that we were behind, but that it was only 9 points, so everything was still possible. We could still do it all. We just sorted out the penalties and the discipline, because we had taken two yellow cards in the first half. But the rest, the defence, was pretty much in place. It was just about knowing how to go after every opportunity in attack, and in the end it paid off.

There are generations with talent in Portugal, that I can tell you with 100% certainty!

You managed to frustrate the Georgians, who wore themselves out attacking and came unstuck against your defence? Yes, that is right. The watchword of this European campaign was defence. We were pretty comfortable. The Georgians are very tough, but even so we were in place, everybody working for each other. We were at ease defending for long spells.

Can we say that the 2023 World Cup took you up a level? Yes. Having lived through those World Cup experiences, the group is ready for the difficult moments. As we saw during the first half of the final: we were behind but we knew that if we stayed clean and true to our game plan, we would manage to come back.

At the 2023 World Cup, the “smaller” nations gradually faded away, except Portugal, who grew stronger: a draw against Georgia, the win over Fiji… We were very well prepared physically and mentally. We went after everything and I think that in our last match against Fiji we really played at 100%. That prepared us for the future.

You are now the 14th nation in the world, that is solid. Yes, but after the 2023 World Cup there were changes that were very complicated to handle. A generation of players left, there was a change of staff… It was not necessarily well managed by the federation, and we had some difficult periods working out which direction we were going in. Fortunately, we now have everything we need in the project for this next World Cup, in Australia in 2027.

Looking at the squad, there are a huge number of players still playing in Portugal… Yes, I think there is talent in Portugal, genuinely. There are a lot of young players, good generations coming through over there who play very well. Our biggest challenge is simply that the game is not professional, so a player has to work alongside it, which is not easy. But there are generations with talent in Portugal, that I can tell you with 100% certainty!