The real story of the spread of rugby in Europe
Roar Guru By Harry Kimble, 14 Apr 2008 Harry Kimble is a Roar Guru
Last Saturday, Georgia won Rugby’s European Nations Cup also known as “Six Nation B” when the team beat Russia, 18-12, two tries to nil, in freezing conditions in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.
The match started late so as to clear the snow and re-mark the lines in red. The Georgians took an early lead and were never behind, ahead 10-6 at the break. Their forward strength gave them the edge but the weather did not prevent the fire with two Lelos and a Russian being sin-binned as the result of several flare-ups. The Lelos last won the Cup in 2001.
More than half the Georgians play in France whilst only two Russians play outside their own country.
Home and away games over two seasons are now played for the Cup. Georgia lost only one game in this series, to Spain in the first leg, when the Lelos sent a second string team to Madrid. This was mainly due to French clubs not releasing Georgian players for the game.
Russia’s only losses were the two legs against Georgia but beat two teams that went to the Rugby World Cup ahead of them, Romania and Portugal. The Czech Republic finished bottom of the table and will be relegated to the B division, to be replaced by that division’s winner, probably Germany, for the 2008-2010 series.
………………….P…..W…..L…..For…….Ag…..Pts
Georgia———9—-8—-1…..270…….94….. 25
Russia———-9—-7—-2…..263……144……23
Romania——-10—-6—-4…..277……144……22
Portugal——–9—-3—-6…..157……175……15
Spain———–8—-3—-5….192……201……14
Czech Rep………9…..0……9…..56…….457…….9
In Russia, last year’s Professional Rugby League is to be scrapped and replaced by a 16 team national competition split into an eastern and a western division. The city of Krasnoyarsk (only two hours behind Australian EST) where this game was played is Rugby mad with four of the eastern division teams coming from it.
Georgia 18 (Urushadze, Katcharava tries, Barkalaia con, 2 pens) beat Russia 12 (Kushnariov, 4 pens) at Krasnoyarsk. H/T 10-6. Referee, F Marciello (France). Crowd, 2,000.
European Nations, division 2A
Belgium 22 beat Moldova 19 in Chisinau
European Nations, division 3A
Armenia 24 beat Denmark 13 in Erevan
I am not sure if Rugby is spreading in Europe to any extent except in a few pockets. Definitely, it is now entrenched in Georgia and the strength is there.
There is a big improvement in Russia and will be the team that has the most to gain. Kazakhstan is playing in the Asian competition this month and may knock Japan off its perch.
The improving Moldova was set to be promoted to European division A but was beaten last week by Belgium. This will allow Germany to sneak through to the top group. Germany is not that great a side. The Czech Republic who will be demoted from the A division this year is floundering and its playing standard is falling.
Spain seems to be getting better and are already in the top group. Another eastern bloc team is Armenia who are getting better but are still only in C division. Ukraine seem to be static. Switzerland is playing above its weight at the moment but can’t see this continuing.
Outside of that, no other European nation appears to be lifting its standard to become a threat to the existing order.
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April 14th 2008 @ 2:00pm
stillmissit said | April 14th 2008 @ 2:00pm | Report comment
Thanks Harry great to hear about Georgia they won a lot of friends in 2003 me included.
Sounds like Georgia is on its way to the top tier of teams. Where do they go from here?
Would have liked to see a larger crowd attend the game.
April 14th 2008 @ 3:12pm
Davo said | April 14th 2008 @ 3:12pm | Report comment
Great video Harry, some big forwards, some big line breaks and an old fashioned all-in fists flying stink. All played on a bed of snow. And that would bd the middle of spring right ?? Not surprised only 2000 there even in a rugby mad town with those conditions. Perhaps a tour destination for the Tahs if they resume their Emerging squad summer tours again as they had travelled to Prague and Romania previously.
April 14th 2008 @ 5:41pm
chris ash said | April 14th 2008 @ 5:41pm | Report comment
how do find out about the emerging tahs schedule. i would love to watch some of these games you never really hear about.
for example the Junior world championships in wales this year – will any of it be televised?
does foxsports show anything from a junior level? Cheers
April 16th 2008 @ 7:58pm
Ian Noble said | April 16th 2008 @ 7:58pm | Report comment
Rome wasn’t built in a day and it will take time to build up union in Europe outside the traditional power centres. In ten years time the game will be stronger as the IRB are prepared to invest and support these emerging nations.
For a SH team, whether S14 or club, to play in these emerging nations would have an enormous impact.
April 17th 2008 @ 2:38pm
El Capitan said | April 17th 2008 @ 2:38pm | Report comment
Same can be said about the American’s. They showed glimpes of what they can do in France. Give them a good juniors program and they could be a tough team for the future