Nuno Manuel Macieira Durão (born 1962) is a Portuguese rugby union footballer and coach. He's usually considered one of the best players of his generation. He played in several positions, often as

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

and

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

. He spent most of his playing career, starting aged 14, at

Cascais Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera, Estoril Coast. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Port ...

, winning several National Championship and Cup of Portugal titles. He also helped Cascais to win the Iberian Cup. He was the player-coach of Cascais Rugby Linha, from the Portuguese II Division. They lost the final to Vitória Setúbal, in 2008, but won it in 2009. Nuno Durão won 44 caps for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, from 1983 to 1995, scoring 2 tries, 8 points on aggregate. He had his debut at 26 March 1983, in a 25-4 loss to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, for the FIRA Championship D2, Pool B. His last match was at 14 March 1995, in a 26-16 win over

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, for the FIRA CHAMPIONSHIP D1 , Pool B. He played in the qualifying round for the

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup () was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Six Nations Championship, Five Na ...

.Nuno Durão International Statistics
/ref> He was also, with João Queimado, from Benfica, one of the two first Portuguese rugby union players to be selected for a

FIRA Firá (, pronounced , official name Φηρά Θήρας - ''Firá Thíras'') is the modern capital of the Greece, Greek Aegean Sea, Aegean island of Santorini (Thera). A traditional settlement,http://www.visitgreece.gr Greek National Tourism Or ...

team, playing in

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, in 1991.

References

External links

Nuno Durão International Statistics
1962 births Living people Portuguese rugby union players Portuguese rugby union coaches Rugby union wings Rugby union fly-halves Sportspeople from Cascais Portugal international rugby union players {{Portugal-rugbyunion-bio-stub