Officially presented at the presidential stand of the Estádio Nacional, in Oeiras, the New Zealand coach acknowledged being before "an incredible opportunity" and assumed the "challenge" of "continuing to improve" a team that "excited everyone" in the last World Cup so that it "won't be a sporadic situation".

"Of course, the main goal is to participate in the 2027 World Cup, but not just to participate. We have to do it with a very good performance. With the new World Cup format, Portugal has to be there not only to participate, but to compete", defined the New Zealand coach.

In this sense, he praised the work of the previous technical team, led by the French Patrice Lagisquet, "whose results, performances and style of play speak for themselves", confirmed that this is a vision of rugby that pleases him and stressed that he intends to "continue to develop a style of rugby that fits the Portuguese players".

"They are capable of playing exciting rugby, playing the ball and the space. And that has always been my philosophy in all the teams I have coached. I don't like to run against a wall and, therefore, I don't ask my players to do it. I want the ball to circulate and that we have the physical and technical capabilities to do it", he pointed out.

For that, the players have to "be fast, strong and ready" to work with "professionalism", a word that he defined as "an attitude, more than money", and even recalled the period when he played for the New Zealand national team, "before 1996, when the All Blacks were at their peak and no player earned a cent".

"The meaning of representing a national team is deeper. What I expect from the Portuguese player is that he comes to play for something more important. Regardless of whether he is paid or not, what I expect is that his attitude is deserving of representing the national team", he said, when questioned about his vision on the importance of professionalizing the team.

Currently at the 'helm' of Biarritz, from the French Pro D2, the 52-year-old coach made a commitment for the next four years with the Portuguese national team and will "divide his time between Portugal and France", to understand "the reality of rugby in Portugal" and "maintain the relationship" with the French clubs, where a significant part of the Portuguese national team players play.

The importance of this relationship with the French clubs was assumed by the president of the Portuguese Rugby Federation, who stressed having opted for "a person with a past and a profile exactly as intended".

"He has a type of game that we like, he has experience in French rugby, where he is still a coach in a renowned club, so we have all the conditions and we trust absolutely in Simon [Mannix], who was 'All Black' very young and is a person with a lot of ambition, just like we also have", summarized Carlos Amado da Silva.

Regarding the team that will accompany him, the federation leader explained that he is "in the process" of choosing "a forwards coach" to "close the process", keeping "all the previous staff", including "João Mirra as 'number two'", a coach who "has been and will continue to be preponderant in the development of national rugby".

Mannix takes over as Portugal's coach after the 'wolves' were led, during the Rugby Europe Championship 2024 (REC24), by a 'trident' of World Rugby consultants led by the Argentinian Daniel Hourcade.

The New Zealander succeeds the French Patrice Lagisquet, who qualified the team for the last World Cup and coached the team in France2023, and Sébastien Bertrank, who was presented right after the competition, but left after about a month.