Rugby Europe Championship/Trophy

[tabascoboy]

Tweet from Georgian Rugby Union announcing the upcoming Georgia v Russia rugby match in Tbilisi. In Ukrainian.

[tabascoboy]

Considering the current situation and to preserve the health and safety of all players and officials, Rugby Europe has decided to postpone the game between Georgia and Russia scheduled to take place on February 27th in Tbilisi, Georgia

Don't think the Russian team and officials would have had a very friendly welcome, for sure...

[tabascoboy]

They are still free to play games outside Russia of course

Rugby Europe shares the international community’s significant concern for the security situation developing in Europe and strongly condemns the ongoing Russian military invasion of Ukraine.

Rugby Europe is deeply concerned about the safety of the rugby community in Ukraine and is closely monitoring the situation.

As the governing body of European rugby, Rugby Europe is promoting rugby according to the European values of peace, respect and human rights, in the spirit of the Olympic Charter.

Rugby Europe has decided to immediately suspend the organisation of Rugby Europe events, tournaments and matches on Russian soil until further notice. This concerns any age or gender category, national or club teams.

Further decisions will be taken by the Rugby Europe Board of Directors, in agreement with World Rugby; and such decisions will be communicated in due course.

Meanwhile, on the pitch Portugal lead Netherlands 26 - 3 at halftime

Full time : 59 - 3

[tabascoboy]

Wow, not just a win for Spain over Romania but a convincing win, final score was 38 - 21.

Spain now move above Romania into 2nd place in the RWC qualification to hold the Europe 2 slot for now but missed out on what could be a crucial BP. Romania likely to take a BP win over Netherlands leaving Portugal V Spain as a crunch match

[tabascoboy]

World Rugby reiterates its condemnation of Russia’s aggressive invasion of Ukraine and the facilitation of this action by Belarus. The global rugby family is united in standing in solidarity with everyone affected by these deeply disturbing events and joins the global community in calling for the restoration of peace.

The World Rugby Executive Committee has today decided to take immediate additional steps to protect the rugby family and take a strong stance against the conflict in line with recommendations by the International Olympic Committee (IOC):

The full and immediate suspension of Russia and Belarus from all international rugby and cross-border club rugby activities until further notice
The full and immediate suspension of the Rugby Union of Russia from World Rugby membership until further notice

So, the remaining World Cup Qualification games involving Russia now can't be played and it hasn't yet been indicated whether these matches will be awarded to the opposition as 28 - 0 walkovers as is usually the case when one team has to forfeit. Portugal were scheduled to play Russia on the 19th at home.

[tabascoboy]

Russia's remaining games cancelled and opponents given win by default with 4 points

[tabascoboy]

Games this weekend:

Spain vs Portugal
Romania vs Georgia

[tabascoboy]

All tickets for Spain v Portugal tomorrow have sold, so a crowd of at least 10 000 should be there assuming no COVID restrictions.

Vital game for Romania at home to Georgia this afternoon where a home win would put huge pressure on both their opponents in the struggle for automatic qualification, the game will be played in a temperature of around -3 °C and a strong breeze. It will be streamed at https://rugbyzone.tv/sportitemset/62275 ... 59a0d3a99d but registration is necessary and even then some locations are geoblocked

[tabascoboy]

Halftime: Romania 13 - 21 Georgia

[tabascoboy]

Very tight game in the end, Georgia edged it for 26 - 23. Losing BP for Romania keeps them in the hunt for Europe's repechage spot depending on the result of Spain v Portugal and Georgia v Spain. Romania ought to take the win with BP in their last game against Netherlands.

Georgia confirmed as Europe 1 qualifiers

[Fonz]

Barring a strange and unlikely turn of events where Spain loses to Portugal in Madrid but beats Georgia in Tbilisi, you have to think Romania is effectively assured of that repechage spot.

Who knows though, Georgia has nothing left to play for and the Spanish will be fighting for their RWC lives (in that scenario).

Of course, if Spain wins tomorrow it's all basically over.

[tabascoboy]

[tabascoboy]

Lively start in Madrid, after 11 mins Portugal lead 10 - 5

[Mr Tim Buktoo]

Good atmosphere. 19-10 to Spain.

[tabascoboy]

24 - 17 to Spain at halftime, 3 tries to 2. Scoring 4 tries does not by itself gain a BP as this series follows the French system where you have to score 4 more tries than your opponent.

Pretty quiet 2nd half so far with exchanges of penalties for 33 - 23 to Spain going into the final 10 minutes. Barring a late comeback from Portugal looks like they will regret the defeat in Bucharest a few weeks ago.

Yellow card against Spain and suddenly the game comes back to life with a try for Portugal. 33 - 28.

Looks like that was the final score, so barring any issues of eligibility as per the last RWC then Spain will take the Europe 2 spot.

[Mr Tim Buktoo]

Decent game. Good crowd. Congrats Spain. Into another WC.
You have to say though that they will probably be destroyed by the Tier 1 teams. Breakdown work isnt near top level.

[tabascoboy]

[PCPhil]

Highlights anywhere?

[tabascoboy]

Highlights anywhere?

Not yet, tomorrow probably

So Spain's RWC fixtures now:

[PCPhil]

Be targeting that Scotland match then.

[tabascoboy]

Still no highlights, but the daily sports magazine Marca featured the team on its front page, reducing Real Madrid to a little box in the corner!

[tabascoboy]

Highlights anywhere?

[tabascoboy]

Today's game will see Romania take the Europe repechage slot if they simply win in Amsterdam and it would take a colossal effort from Netherlands to upset the odds after a very difficult campaign.

On Sunday Spain have a chance to lift the 2022 title if they can overcome Georgia in Tbilisi and while the home side hasn't been at their best this time around it would still be a notable achievement. Weather forecast is cold with snow, a little unusual for mid-March in the area but not unprecedented. Result will not affect the standings for the RWC qualification.

[tabascoboy]

No surprise in Amsterdam so Romania will join USA or Chile, one African team and one from the Oceania/Asia zone in the repechages.

[tabascoboy]

2nd half, Georgia out-mauled

[tabascoboy]

Final score: Georgia 49 - 15 Spain

[tabascoboy]

Some rumours going around that World Rugby are looking into an eligibility breach by Spain for one player in this years Championship games. World Rugby had approved the player's eligibility previously but that seems to have been based on falsified documents from the player and his club.

[tabascoboy]

Hadn't realised until now that the Championship is split into two pools of 4 for 2023. Russia obviously still suspended so Germany, Poland and Belgium are promoted to make it 8 teams. The matches start rather optimistically for the Northern European teams and Romania in early February

POOL A
Georgia
Netherlands
Spain
Germany

POOL B
Romania
Portugal
Belgium
Poland


And in the U18s Championship, Romania lost to Germany last weekend

[clydecloggie]

Hadn't realised until now that the Championship is split into two pools of 4 for 2023. Russia obviously still suspended so Germany, Poland and Belgium are promoted to make it 8 teams. The matches start rather optimistically for the Northern European teams and Romania in early February

POOL A
Georgia
Netherlands
Spain
Germany

POOL B
Romania
Portugal
Belgium
Poland


And in the U18s Championship, Romania lost to Germany last weekend

I took an interest in the U18s as four players I coached last season were in the Dutch U18 squad. Biggest result from the week was Romania losing all matches including against a really poor Czech side. This means they will now have to go through the qualifiers to get back into the tournament next year. With the prize being an unwinnable QF against Georgia.

Georgia won the whole thing for the umpteenth time in a row, Spain and Portugal were hard to keep apart and finished third and second with Belgium fourth, then the Dutch, then Germany and Czechia. Romania last.

Of the above REC, Pool A looks to be somewhat tougher with Georgia and Spain in it while I don't see who can challenge Portugal in B.

[tabascoboy]

The Czech win in the U18s over Romania is a big boost for them but wonder why Romania have been so poor, bad/zero preparation maybe? There is apparently next to no budget for the U18s or any of the age grade teams from the national federation.

[clydecloggie]

The Czech win in the U18s over Romania is a big boost for them but wonder why Romania have been so poor, bad/zero preparation maybe? There is apparently next to no budget for the U18s or any of the age grade teams from the national federation.

That's par for the course for most of these teams. Dutch players had to self-fund/crowdfund to go through their development from U16 upwards. Current Dutch U17 just paid €500 per head themselves to fund a training week in Wales - budgets really are non-existent in most of these nations. Only Georgia and Portugal seem to have a decent setup, and possibly Spain but I do not know what they do for their age-group squads.

[clydecloggie]

Eye-catching result from the U20 Rugby Europe Champs where the Netherlands defeated Portugal 19-14 in the semis. So the final will be Netherlands - Spain rather than the expected Portugal - Spain.

Great result for the Dutch, Portugal have been close to qualifying for the U20 World Cup the last few years so good to see the Dutch stepping up to that level at age grade. Might be their first ever win against Portugal at U20.

The match itself was a very tight affair, with the final whistle coming after the Portuguese were held up over the Dutch try line. One of those gems full of suspense with the result in doubt right until the end.

[tabascoboy]

First round of the new format Rugby Europe Championship this weekend:

Pool A ( Sat )
Romania v Poland
Portugal v Belgium

Pool B ( Sun )
Georgia v Germany
Spain v Netherlands

[tabascoboy]

Romania up 38 - 10 at half time. Poland at least had something to cheer



And before anyone asks, try scorer's full name is Peter Hudson-Kowalewicz, so does have Polish connections although born and at University in England


Final score was Romania 67 - 27 Poland

heavy defeat for Poland's first match at the higher level, but although defence is a problem they put together some decent attacks

[tabascoboy]

And Portugal beat Belgium 54 - 17

[tabascoboy]

Today's first result

Georgia 75 -12 Germany (42:0 at half time)



Highlights of yesterday Romania - Poland though video quality isn't great at full screen

[tabascoboy]

And last game of the weekend, Spain beat Netherlands 28 - 20

[clydecloggie]

Not a bad game from the Dutch at all. Poor kicking from FB David Weersman in particular cost them a potential win.

Spain looked to be running away with it near the end of the first half but got pegged back for the majority of the second. Really encouraging stuff.

Georgia next week, so no chance of taking the next step, but they should be too strong for Germany in week 3.

[tabascoboy]

[tabascoboy]

First result of the day, Poland just never in the game at all. Poland 3 - 65 Portugal