Every feat is different. No one feels it the same way. Ask Tonga what feelings overwhelmed them after their success against France in 2011. Also ask Japan, who lost the Springboks at the 2015 World Cup. For Le Figaro, the left pillar of Portugal and Béziers, Francisco Fernandes (38 years), looked back on the resounding success of his team on Sunday against Fiji (23-24). “Chico”, as he is nicknamed, also evokes the successful World Cup by the Portuguese selection and gives us an anecdote that is as crazy as it is memorable.
Le Figaro. First we want to know how you are…Francisco Fernandes: Physically, we are in canes! But also happy to have finished because it was still quite long. In the head, everything is fine. Finishing like this is great for the mind and body.
Did you have time to rest? We played late but still managed to get some sleep. There, we’re going to have a little barbecue between us in Blagnac with the Portuguese group and the families. It’ll be nice!
Do you realize what happened? At the time we didn’t really realize it. We were jumping for joy, but it was when we looked at social media that we realized what we had done. The number of messages of congratulations, encouragement, tweets that show us the actions of the match… It’s crazy. We don’t realize it until the next day. When you’re in euphoria, you don’t realize anything. When your head rests, you think and you begin to realize.
We have the feeling that you believed in it until the end… When I saw their traditional dance (the Cibi) after the hymns, I said “wow, that’s going to sting!”. When they start pointing at you one by one… You say to yourself, look forward to the first impact to see what it happens. And then we competed. We could see that we were there and that they were foiling. We always tackled as a pair, they didn’t move forward, except for our mistakes. We never closed the game. I think that everyone was waiting for this match, between two teams who have a lot of play. Little by little, we lost control of the ball a little. . Their physical density at the level of their replacements was not the same as us but we knew that behind us we had X factors like Storti or Marta who, on an action, could resolve a situation. This is what happened in the end. We were waiting for this moment, we knew it was possible.
And this kick from hooker Mike Tadjer, how do you analyze it? No, it didn’t surprise me! In general, it’s me who is the second curtain since I’m on the street (laughs). But then I saw that he was already there so I let him do it. Well, technically he is as comfortable with his feet as he is with his hands so I knew he was going to kick. He did well but afterwards, the Fijians played quickly and the counter-attack stung… (laughs).
At this World Cup, have you surprised yourself? We surprised ourselves because we were regressing. We played USA, Australia A and played some weird rugby. The World Cup was approaching and we couldn’t gain momentum. We asked ourselves a lot of questions but the first match against the Welsh gave us confidence and afterwards, we said to ourselves that if we played rugby, nothing could happen to us. If we hold the ball, the opponent will defend and not score a point.
Can we talk about a successful World Cup? That’s for sure. After our draw against Georgia (18-18), we had already succeeded. It was the first time in the history of the selection that we managed to do that and behind it, we beat Fiji. And above all, we won over the public. You have a draw and a victory but seeing the crowd and even the commentators behind us is even more beautiful! We felt a real enthusiasm around us. And that’s the image we wanted to send. It’s the perfect World Cup even if we say to ourselves that we could have done better against Georgia. In the end, you are still greedy even if no one expected us to this level.
What was Patrice Lagisquet’s speech after the victory? The speech was not that different from usual. We had a debriefing at the hotel with everyone. The speech was in English even though I never understand anything (laughs) but I remembered that he told us that we had won the World Cup and that he was proud of us. Coming from a man like that, you know his words have meaning and weight.
We have the feeling that Patrice Lagisquet created a team… He united a group, yes. He didn’t necessarily create a team but more a game system. He never restricted us, he pushed us to play twice as much as usual… We sent games everywhere. He wanted to pass on to us the rugby he knew and he succeeded.
In your opinion, what could be the future of the Lobos selection? I don’t have much of an idea. Quite a few players will quit. You’ll probably need to lend a helping hand from time to time. Afterwards, about the follow-up and the future, I don’t know. There are great things to come but young people must take advantage of them. We did what we could. It’s up to them to take up the torch.
Do you have a memorable story to tell us from your World Cup? I don’t even have to think! In Saint-Étienne, we had a big match against Australia and we are all happy. Except that after the meeting, we realize that the city sucks, that there was nothing to do. Finally, we bring our families over and have them eat at the restaurant. We start drinking one, two, three beers… And we finish at 6am! We were in the hotel, in our video room with GIGN! There were four of them following us. Of all of them, it was the best party possible. It was great. It does not eat bread. We had a small speaker that plays music, the waiter who allowed us to serve ourselves until 5 a.m., and a good atmosphere. We didn’t need much! We created bonds with people who were there to watch us and who didn’t know rugby. And at the end, we even gave each other a few taser shots (laughs).
Against Fiji, did you play your last international match at 38? No, I’m not going to stop because I have my 50th selection to go for. I’m at 49 at the moment. So I have to do one more to pass what we call “legionnaire”. I have always liked to challenge myself in my career.
You also scored a try in this last match…I don’t score one too often (laughs). Plus it’s the one that puts us in front… It was the right time. My wife told me “go score a try” and, ultimately, everyone tells you that thanks to that, I had a good match. You score, you flatten, you see the referee awards it, you’re like a kid! You shout, you celebrate, everyone jumps on you and, in the end, you’re done because you shouted too much (laughs)!
