It's not a long flight - an hour and 40 minutes, but an important journey. They fly on Friday afternoon, stay at the four-star beach Hotel Riad Salam, play on Saturday and return on Sunday to prepare for the second leg in Lisbon on the Saturday following.

The winner of this qualifier will go on to play Uruguay home and away for the right to go to France for the 20007 Rugby World Cup.

Portugal's coach Tomaz Morais has chosen a squad of 22 players to make the trip. Morais is a great figure in Portuguese rugby. He and his brother Nuno played many matches for Cascais and Portugal. After his playing days Tomaz Morais coached Direito and the national team. He was a nominee for the International Rugby Board's coach of the year when Jake White of South Africa received the award in 2004.

Of the team which lost to Georgia in Tblissi, centre Frederico Sousa, veteran wing António Aguilar and flank Diogo Coutinho of the starting team as well as Cristian Spachuk, Francisco Fragateiro and Cardoso Pinto of the replacements.

Pedro Viera is a new cap.

The Portuguese squad, by club:

CDUP: Joaquim Ferreira, Marcello D’Orey, Gonçalo Malheiro

AA Coimbra: Rui Cordeiro

Agronomia: Pedro Vieira, Luís Pissarra, Juan Severino, Duarte C Pinto, Aderito Esteves, Gustavo Duarte

Direito: Vasco Uva, José Pinto, João Correia, Miguel Portela, Pedro Carvalho, Pedro Leal

Belenenses: João Uva, Paulo Santos

Benfica: Diogo Gama

Cascais: Paulo Murinello

Montpellier (France): Gonçalo Uva

Munster (Ireland): Diogo Mateus

Date: Saturday, 20 January 2007
Kick-off: 13.00
Venue: Stade du COC, Casablanca
Expected weather conditions: Scattered clouds with a high of 22 C, dropping to 13°C and a light wind
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Touch judges: Rob Debney, David Kurk (both England)