De Freitas among four changes as Portugal announce team to play Australia

Portugal head coach Patrice Lagisquet has made four changes to his starting XV to face Australia in Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Étienne on Sunday 1 October. David Costa starts at loose-head prop, Martim Belo returns in the second row and blindside flanker David Wallis and number eight Thibault de Freitas (pictured) come into the back row.

1 David Costa 
2 Mike Tadjer 
3 Diogo Hasse Ferreira 
4 José Madeira 
5 Martim Belo 
6 David Wallis
7 Nicolas Martins 
8 Thibault de Freitas 
9 Samuel Marques 
10 Jerónimo Portela 
11 Rodrigo Marta 
12 Tomás Appleton (c) 
13 Pedro Bettencourt 
14 Raffaele Storti 
15 Nuno Sousa Guedes 

Replacements:
16 Francisco Fernandes 
17 Duarte Diniz 
18 Francisco Bruno 
19 Steevy Cerqueira 
20 Rafael Simões 
21 João Belo 
22 Joris Moura 
23 Manuel Cardoso Pinto

• Head coach Patrice Lagisquet has made four changes, all in the forward pack, to his starting XV that drew 18-18 with Georgia last game.
• David Costa earns his first start of RWC 2023, replacing Francisco Fernandes at loose-head. He has averaged only 26 minutes of game time at this tournament.
• Martim Belo returns to partner Jose Madeira in the second row after playing 14 minutes off the bench last week.
• There are two new faces in the back row with David Wallis and Thibault de Freitas joining Nicolas Martins in the starting XV for the first time at RWC 2023.
• There are 18 survivors in the match-day team from their 30-17 loss against Australia A on 26 August, including 13 in the starting XV.
• Nicolas Martins has not missed a tackle at RWC 2023, completing all 31 attempts, and one of only four players who a 100% success-rate from a minimum of 15 attempts.
• Raffaele Storti became the first Portuguese player to score two or more tries in a match with a double against Georgia in their last pool game.