#4 "Wolves"

The wolf is a wonderful animal, a survivor, and one of the few species that mate for life; but this is not about the endangered kind, but about another frail group of mammals - the Portuguese Rugby team.

For the first time, a Portuguese national side will be present in a rugby World Cup event, in the finals, as one of the contenders - although they have NO chance at all... simply because they are the ONLY semi-professional rugby team to make it to the competition, ever!

Yes, that's right, they are not professional rugby players, their lives are not just about rugby - yet, they qualified and they are going to go versus the likes of Scotland, Italy or, get this, New Zealand's All Blacks...
Of course, they have no hopes of winning a match. It would be like Luxembourg or San Marino, with due respect, after qualifying to the FIFA World Cup, to beat Italy or Brazil.

These "wolves" as their fondly known in Portugal, due to their relentless spirit and courage, will attempt to score as many points as possible against the "giants" of the sport, while trying not to loose for more than a two-digit score...
However, they are ambitious enough to try a victory against the more accessible team of Romania, although even this will be unlikely... but small numbers of Portuguese men have already proven to be able to surpass bigger odds - after all, a fistful of Portuguese soldiers and sailors established one of the more extensive and durable empires of the world.

Whatever happens next to the "wolves", they will not be crying but howling of joy at the moon in France's Rugby World Cup 2007...