Tomaz Eduardo Carvalho Morais (born 6 April 1970 in

Lobito Lobito is a Municipalities of Angola, municipality in Angola. It is located in Benguela Province, on the Atlantic Coast north of the Catumbela Estuary. The Lobito municipality had a population of 393,079 in 2014. History The city was founded in ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

) is a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

coach and a former player.

Life and career

The son of Portuguese settlers in Angola, Morais moved to Portugal following the 25 April 1974 revolution. He went on to become a Physical Education teacher and a rugby union player, playing as a centre for Cascais. He took some time off from the sport because of his studies, but later returned to play for Direito. He won 6 titles of the National Championship and 2 Iberian Cups. Morais won 20 caps for

Portugal national rugby union team The Portugal national rugby union team (Portuguese: Seleção Portuguesa de Rugby), nicknamed Os Lobos (''The Wolves''), represents Portugal in men's international rugby union competitions. The team as well as all rugby union in Portugal is admi ...

, scoring a try, from 1991 to 1995. He had to retire from rugby in 1996 due to a serious injury. He took the opportunity to start a career as a rugby coach, first at Direito.

National Team Coach

He became coach of the Portuguese national team in September 2001, and, after a hard work, went to win the

European Nations Cup European Nations Cup may refer to: *UEFA European Championship, formerly known as European Nations' Cup *Europcar Cup, a European Tour golf tournament *European Nations Cup (golf), a European Ladies Tour golf tournament *European Nations Cup (field ...

, for the first time, in 2004. The same year, he was nominated for the award of "Coach of the Year" by the IRB. In 2007, he led Portugal to their first

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

finals, after beating

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

over two legs. At the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

finals, Portugal lost all four of their games, but scored in all of them, including a try in each one, and earned a bonus point in the 14-10 loss to

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. He missed the qualification for the repechage to the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

, by finishing in 4th place. He left office as the National Team coach in March 2010 and was replaced by New Zealand

Errol Brain Errol Fraser Brain (born 21 July 1968) is a former New Zealand rugby union player and a current coach. He played as back-row/number 8. Brain had more than 100 caps for Counties Manukau. He played for Auckland Blues (1996) and Waikato Chiefs (19 ...

in September. He took office in March 2010 as technical officer of the Portuguese Rugby Federation. He co-wrote the 2006 book ''Compromisso: Nunca Desistir'' ("A Commitment: Never Give Up") with the journalist Carlos Mendonça.Tomaz Morais
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References

External links

1970 births Living people People from Lobito Portuguese rugby union players Portuguese rugby union coaches Angolan rugby union players Angolan people of Portuguese descent Rugby union centres Portugal international rugby union players {{portugal-rugbyunion-bio-stub