Reality is (almost) never a copy of soap operas. In this case, however, the spices of the plot are all there: young António met his new "flatmate" during his mother's second marriage. With this "new" stepfather came Rodrigo, the son of another union. They became brothers, not by blood, but by affinity. With him also came a new home, a new life. It could have gone wrong, of course. The stepfather might not have created the desired empathy with his stepson. The stepmother could have ignored the interests of the new family member. As you know, soap operas always give us several endings, many of them unpredictable. However, the ending of this (second-time) family was, in the end, a happy one. They empathised. They share a house. They copied habits. Little age separates them. One, older, started his adventure in sport earlier; the other, younger, followed the example he saw being born in this new home.

Rodrigo Mateus, the most powerful of the brothers, just finishing his youth career, was the first to discover rugby. He speaks with ease about a sport he knows by heart. Today he's 17, half of them running between team-mates with a ball in his hand, looking for the perfect points. "I was always encouraged to take part in sport from a young age." Rugby, played at the University of Porto Sports Centre (CDUP), helped him develop mutual support and discipline. "I always played for the team and never for myself."

A few years later, Rodrigo's enthusiasm infected António. "He was the one who encouraged me to try it, I liked it and stayed. Right from the first training session I scored five tries and I thought this was really for me," says the youngster. It's been a few years now, competing for the club that fills their hearts in different age groups. From perfect strangers, they became brothers and team-mates — and this happened almost as quickly as an episode of a soap opera.

From the University Stadium to the World Cup in Paris

On the night of training, when the thermometer drops to almost negative levels, there are dozens of youngsters running in opposite directions. The Estádio Universitário do Porto pitch is divided into age groups, which are only a few metres apart. Pedro Campos Neto, head of the CDUP, recognises the "gymnastics" needed to create compatible schedules for all ages. Because, without exaggeration, there are athletes from 4 to 40 years old. "At the moment we have 240 players, but we'd like to reach 300 by the end of the season," he says.

The Rugby World Cup held in the French capital in 2023 allowed the country to wake up to a sport that, for many, is still almost unknown. The national team, without much history in competitions of this kind, achieved results that exceeded the best expectations: a draw against Georgia and an unexpected victory against the powerful Fiji team. "It far exceeded our best dreams," smiles 29-year-old Nuno de Sousa Guedes, one of the CDUP players who played for the national team.

Dreams shared between fathers and sons

It's past dinner time, but on the other side of the net, outside the synthetic pitch, there are hundreds of spectators who, in the cold, follow the orders on the pitch. "They're the parents of the younger ones, who like to see their children's progress," says Campos Costa. Under a shed, they are the safe harbour for these young athletes, for better or for worse: they celebrate when they make the perfect tackle, they look for words of comfort there when the play isn't quite right.

Benjamin Pinto da Costa is four years old and one of the youngest players in the sport. He started training a year ago and even knows how to "do rehearsals". Next door, with a smile on his face, his friend Manuel Malheiro, aged seven, has been playing for two years. He says that rugby "is cool" and that he'd like to take it more seriously. Maybe "be a rugby player". Who knows?

A boy's dreams start right here, at this age, on the pitch, watching others play. Tomás Marrana is the current captain of CDUP's senior team and, at 24, he sees himself in the words of the younger players. "With 20 years of rugby under my belt, I can only say that my greatest friends were made here." It all started with an uncle who studied in Wales, one of the world's leading rugby nations. "That was followed by my cousins, who took my brothers and I ended up joining by dragging them along," he summarises. He never gave up on his passion, even when the club had to suspend competitions because he didn't fulfil the necessary requirements to compete at a more professional level.

An upward trend in the pursuit of the sport

"We're in an upward period, rebuilding the team, attracting new talent, getting the best results," summarises Pedro Campos Costa. Step by step, they're getting back on their feet, at various levels (on the pitch and in the office), as many of the players from the golden era have left, looking for new flights, new challenges. João Belo, another of the "wolves" who filled a country glued to the screen with pride, has returned to the home he has always kept in his heart. "No matter how much I travel the world, you never forget the place where it all began," he explains.

In his case, the passion really began in the family home. João is the son of an athlete and joined the club through his father, "without any interest", he admits today. He began to see sport as a joke, a way of meeting new people and passing the time. The basics of the game quickly entered his mindset. "We began to better understand the rules and the benefits of the game." And the focus changed. He had experiences in Brazil, New Zealand and Lisbon. The pandemic brought him back to Porto, where he first started playing rugby 20 years ago. "It's the club that instilled in me rigour, discipline and conviviality. It's a sport that makes you learn a lot for your life, that teaches you to see any extra effort as a huge reward," admits the athlete.

A club in increasing demand

At the end of 2023, CDUP celebrated its 60th anniversary. Over the course of several decades, many athletes have placed their trust in this club, which has brought out athletes with more or less talent, consolidated an increasingly adept public and brought stars to the pitch who have shone beyond borders.

Pedro Campos Costa knows that the future is uncertain, but hope remains. "Seeing all these kids here cultivating the values of friendship and unity on the pitch is something that drives us on." New players appear every season, "brought in by word of mouth" between the parents and the youngsters.

This is the case with Marco Vale who, at the age of nine, is one of the most recent "signings". "I had a friend who really liked coming here and I signed up too." Wearing a yellow shirt, the colour of the club, a symbol stuck to his chest and a helmet on his head, he says he's still getting to know it all little by little, but he already has a favourite technique: the much-mentioned "tackle".