Belenenses secured their ninth Supertaça rugby title on Saturday, solidifying their recent dominance in the competition and moving closer to the all-time record held by rivals Direito.
The Lisbon-based club defeated CDUL 24-14 in a match held at the Jamor High Performance Centre near Oeiras.
This victory marks Belenenses’ sixth Supertaça trophy in the last seven editions. They revalidated their win from approximately a year ago.
The club is now just three titles shy of Derecho, which holds the record with 12 Supertaça wins. The competition has been played since 1988.
Belenenses established a commanding 14-0 lead by halftime. Duarte Azevedo scored an early try in the 17th minute, followed by Tomás Sequeira in the 36th minute. Francisco Meneres successfully converted both.
In the second half, Lucas Liendo added another try in the 48th minute, again converted by Meneres. Meneres further extended Belenenses’ lead with a penalty kick in the 57th minute, bringing the score to 24-0.
CDUL, the reigning Portuguese Cup champions, mounted a late, though insufficient, comeback. Francisco Almeida scored a try in the 78th minute. Mariano Leiva added another in injury time (80+7 minutes). Jorge Abecasis converted both of CDUL’s tries.
Beyond Derecho, other teams with multiple Supertaça titles include Cascais and Agronomia, each with five. CDUL has three, Académica two, and Técnico one.
The Supertaça competition was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.