This past weekend saw the kick-off of yet another hotly contested European Nations Cup 1A Championship. A Championship that, in terms of competition among participants, could be argued is the world’s toughest.
Sure, it’s not the level of the Rugby Championship or the Six Nations, but when observing the pride and passion displayed over the weekend and most importantly the gallantly fought rugby between all competitors, there’s no questioning how tight the next best championship in Europe has become.
To be honest, it is of no real surprise. Both Spain and Portugal have been trending upward for a few seasons now. Meanwhile, Russia has not been the same team that qualified for New Zealand 2011 and Romania have been witnessing a resurgence of kind, with their relatively fresh professional SuperLiga beginning to pay dividiends.
Even the perennial powerhouses at this level, Georgia, have begun to notice stiffer resistance of late.
The improvement alluded to above indicated that among the five established members of this six team championship, the games would be hard fought and hopefully tightly contested. They were.
In the first weekend of play, Russia hosted Spain and Portugal welcomed Romania.
Details and coverage of both games is sparse to say the least, however Russia emerged victorious over their Spanish foes by the small margin of 13-9, while Portugal just lacked the finishing stamina to fall at home to Romania 13-19.
From what can be gathered, both were physical if not scrappy first up games for all involved.
The one question mark leading into this season was the level of competitiveness newly promoted Belgium would present. The rising power of continental European rugby, the Belgian Union has been squirreling away over the past decade, developing and installing structure to dominate the continental rivals at the age grade level and drive their way into the ENC1A Championship.
History suggested, via the likes of Germany and the Ukraine, promotion from 1B to 1A is often a step too far. So the question was not how close Belgium’s game would be against the powerful Georgians but if they could at least keep it respectable.
The answer? Not only did they keep it respectable, they gave the Georgians an almighty scare.
In front of a capacity home crowd (6,000) in Brussels, the Belgians put the Georgians to the sword early on, leading at one stage 13-3 before the Georgians were able to use their superior experience and forward grunt to assume the lead and the victory 13-17.
While it was a loss for Belgium, they have fired a warning shot across the bows of the competition that they will not be a guaranteed four points and to beat them, teams will need to respect them as they do each other.
Overall, this is shaping as potentially the best ENC1A yet. A championship that has potential to develop into something equivalent to the Six Nations with the right support and coverage.
Now with the likes of Germany rebuilding and showing strong signs of recovery (they pushed Belgium to the limit last year) and surprise packets Poland improving rapidly, European rugby is gaining some serious legs that, if fostered, could deliver a really competitive region well beyond its current levels.
Barbar84
Guest
Population really doesn't have much to do with it at the minute anyway. Couple of mistakes there though. Ireland rugby comprises the entire Island of Ireland, Population 6.3 million. another country that does only have 4.5 million people is New Zealand, and we all know how they shape up. Also with Gaelic games, almost every child in Ireland from about the age of 5 is playing 2 extremely physical full contact games, learning ball handling and catching/kicking skills, and instilling a mentality of playing not for personal gain but for pure pride in where you're from, what with the amateur nature of the game. You really see this come true in the Catching skills of the likes of Rob Kearney.
Barbar84
Guest
As an Irish man, Poland have become my lower tier team to follow. Its great to watch their steady ascent in Europe. They are very likely to be up in Division 1a next year. With the massive numbers of Poles in Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales now, they are bound to have another crop of players in the coming years, as well as huge numbers of new polish rugby fans going home. Its can be very tough at times to find coverage of these games, I know they have limited funds and all, but they could at least have a facebook page/twitter feed! And as for trying to get a jersey, impossible!
Bakkies
Guest
Rugby is where football was in the 1920s in an international sense. Developing the game in markets in Asia, Africa, etc. It has a long way to go in continental Europe. Romania is being worked on but there doesn't seem to be the interest there compared to say Georgia.
Bob Anderson
Guest
There are many people in Europe who would like an alternative to soccer. For some its a desire for a sport with a little bit more physicality and for others simply something different to watch from time to time. I foresee rugby becoming a major sport throughout europe in the coming decades as its the only real alternative to soccer as a major team field sport. Its already trending that way in France where it increasingly rivals soccer in TV ratings.
Jerry
Guest
Damn it! Ah well, regardless - Dadiggle is firstly a South African and secondly a bit of a troll. I wouldn't read any of his posts as meaning anything of importance.
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
I'm not so sure: Tintin could always handle himself in a fight. Let's not forget JCVD too; the man who will be forever immortalised, by Sid the Sexist in Viz comic, rather than the Muscles from Brussels, the "Melgium from Belgium" instead. I feel like I'm going off-topic here... :D
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Hahaha, my bad! Nothing looks more like a Georgian than another Georgian! Really thought the 6 was Gorgodze, with thicker hair maybe! Thanks for the info anyway! On a lighter note, the Belgians looked lost while the Georgians felt very much at home throwing punches. Not sure the Belgians are that happy to now have to play the likes of Georgia, Romania, Russia etc.
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
The Georgian No. 6 was Viktor Kolelishvili who, after pounding the young Thibaut Andre, runs away like a big scaredy cat when the very un-Belgian sounding Alan Williams steps in. I'm a little shocked you didn't recognise these players, call yourself a fan!? Actually, I had to check on the RWC website... ;)
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Ohhhh, who is the poor Belgian wing who ended up one on one with Mamuka Gorgodze (I think it's him, n6 white)!!!? Should have chosen the two other wings and the s rum half rather than gorgodzilla.
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
I found another link, this time at the Guardian's website, showing the mass brawl that marred/enlivened* this match. Enjoy again: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/video/2013/feb/05/rugby-belgium-georgia-brawl-video *delete as applicable
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
Some might argue that cycling (in its various forms) is bigger in Belgium than even football, so I don't think that they have a sporting vacuum waiting for rugby to fill it. Even so, it would be good to get some new faces at the World Cup table, and having a tiny bit of Belgian ancestry I'd be pretty pleased to see them get there.
Bakkies
Guest
I am an Aussie.
Jerry
Guest
When you make an assumption, you make an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'mption'. Given your username you're more likely to be a countryman of Dadiggle than I am*. He's a Saffer. *it's an assumption!
Bakkies
Guest
Why do Kiwis have to be so needy? The ENC is a tough competition played over two years in addition there are RWC spots on the line. You have a lot of amateur players competing against semi pros/pros plus the schedule is very tough. The unions don't have big budgets and tv contracts either.
Dadiggle
Guest
Well try going to NZ and get a win there and come back to me and tell me how it compares with you idea of tough. Southern Hemisphere teams go over to Europe and win there on a regular basis. Plus they travel what couple of hours in a train and all in the same time zone.
Bakkies
Guest
Belgium is a heavily divided country that has had recent political problems. The Walloon areas are a lot poorer then the Flemish parts of the country (pretty sure there was talk of the Flemish separating).
p.Tah
Guest
Great article WCR. Thanks for posting.
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
quite true. plus they have the raw, brutal strength of the dutch/saffas in their flemish population, and the brains + the 'je ne sais quoi' of the french with the walloons (was easy, i know).
Johnno
Guest
Belguim rugby is a sleeping giant. A rich country, 11 million people, far more than Irleand 4.5 million people,Wales, or Scotland. And close links with France too. Unlike Irleand, just rugby and soccer. No GAA sports like Gailec football and hurling. Belguim has a strong club rugby culture, Belguim rugby will just get stronger over the next 10 years. Think how far Georgia has come since the 2003 world cup, well Belgium certainly has hope in rugby .
Sircoolalot
Guest
Wrong http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/matches/match=13825/index.html 1 Mikheil Nariashvili 2 Shalva Mamukashvili 3 David Kubriashvili 4 Giorgi Chkhaidze (C) 5 Kote Mikautadze 6 Viktor Kolelishvili 7 Mamuka Gorgodze 8 Dimitri Basilaia 9 Giorgi Begadze 10 Merab Kvirikashvili 11 Alexander Todua 12 Merab Sharikadze 13 David Kacharava 14 Tamaz Mtchedlidze 15 Beka Tsiklauri