While the Six Nations were being played by Europe’s best, the Six Nations B was played at the same time.
This tournament was run by Rugby Europe (formally FIRA-AER) annually, with a two year home-and-away format and promotion/relegation at the end.
This year’s teams were Georgia, Romania, Russia, Spain, Portugal and newly promoted Germany.
Playing its first game in the top division, Germany was at home and with a crowd of 3,000 on hand took on the previous champions, Georgia. As expected, the Lolos took control immediately and ran in ten tries to one to destroy Germany, 64-8.
On the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal took on Romania. Los Lobos had no answer to the Oaks’ attack. Romania scored four tries to one, winning 37-10.
At Madrid University ground, a 6,500-strong vocal home crowd caused an upset by beating Russia. Russia had no reply to the speed of Spanish, who linked in fast open passing movements to score seven ties to two. Russia’s last try in the last minute to make the score (43-20) a bit more respectable.
In the next round, Germany was again at home but only 1,300 turned up to watch them play Russia. This was a different German side. With two tries each at half time, Germany led 15-12 and scored again after the break to lead 22-12 with 20 minutes remaining.
With only two professional players in the German side, their stamina and teamwork were not enough. Despite their early promise, they allowed Russia to add another five tries for a lopsided, misleading and undeserved 46-22 win.
In Bucharest, Romania easily beat a lethargic and disjointed Spanish side, 29-8, scoring five ties to one. You would not believe it was the same Spanish team as in the previous game. Similarly, the match in Tbilisi between Georgia and Portugal was dreadful. Georgia scored the only try to win 20-15 in a lacklustre and disappointing contest.
The third round had some intrigue. Russia was to play Romania at home in Krasnodar. As is commonplace, Russia refused visas to the Romanian coaching staff who had to travel without them.
The teams scored one try each and Romania led 10-3 at the break, then it all fell apart as the Oaks began to give away penalties. Russia capitalised and beat Romania 16-13.
At home, Spain held the strong Lelos to 13-all at the break but could not maintain this defence in the second as Georgia won 26-13 scoring two tries to one Germany travelled to Lisbon to play Los Lobos. It was a dismal match though played in good conditions with Portugal winning 13-3, and scoring the only try.
Georgia then hosted Russia in Tbilisi’s major football stadium. Over 20,000 crammed in to the ground with security police shoulder to shoulder next to the playing area.
There were several placards and the one in English that I could read said “we respect you guys but not your government”. Outside of that, there were no incidents and the game was completely clean. The game was fast and open, both sides using its backs.
The Lelos had 66 per cent of possession but the Russian defence was solid with Georgia leading 6-nil at the break. The Russians started to wilt and Georgia scored three tries in the last 10 minutes.
One feature of the game was that there was not one reset scrum. Spain made heavy weather when it played its Iberian neighbours in Lisbon. It was 8-all at half time but Spain’s superior fitness allowed them to score again in the second half to win, 19-8.
It was the same in Heidelberg, where Romania made heavy work of it against Germany. The Oaks did not seem interested, scoring a try in the first half then went to sleep. Romania finally won 17-12 but were not happy with the way it was won.
In the final round, Spain finally woke up at home to Germany. Once again, the Germans played well in the first half and were behind only 3-8 at the break. Again the Germans ran out of puff to let Spain score six tries in the last 20 minutes to win 48-16.
At least Germany scored two second-half tries. In Sochi, Russia went through the motions to beat Portugal in a not to be remembered two tries to one encounter, 21-8. The last match was the series decider between Romania and Georgia in Bucharest.
What an anticlimax! In a tryless game that never reached any great heights, Georgia remained undefeated, winning the dour encounter 15-6. All points came from penalty goals.
The final table has Georgia, undefeated on top, Romania, Spain and Russia (in that order due to the bonus points) then Portugal with one win and Germany last without a win.
As a result of this and then the Six Nations, Georgia now moves in the 14th place in the world rankings, leapfrogging Italy.
Already in Europe, there are questions being asked should the Six Nations have promotion and relegation, or should it be expanded to seven or even eight nations to accommodate Georgia and Romania. Clearly, these two nations are too strong for the European nations and many want to see them pitted against the big boys.
There is no way that any of the Six Nation ruling bodies would agree and risk being relegated, so it will remain a pipe-dream for the time being.
Birdy
Guest
If these 4 SH teams say, they want a more pan-SH cup, the 4 rugby boards of these nations will listen and scrap the Rugby Championship, but for now it seems the fans enjoy this meaningless tournament, this non-true SH title. Or enough do anyway. I’ve stopped watching it, as it feels meaningless, same 4 SH teams each year.
Birdy
Guest
Why?
Bakkies
Guest
Six Nations ain't going anywhere the biggest money spinner outside of the RWC and it's about fans coming together. No public tickets go to sale in some of the countries you have to be a member of a club. Selling ticket allocations is important to clubs.
Bakkies
Guest
Their under 20s have improved and finished third this year beating Wales and Ireland. Glasgow have brought on some good young talent and playing well under Townsend. Russell, Seymour, Johnny Gray, Hogg, etc coming in under his watch. Matt Scott is a player to watch if he stays fit. The SRU have debt due to Murrayfield and have cleared a chunk of it due to the BT deal.
Targa
Guest
Make it an 8-team comp (add Georgia and Romania) then play with 2 pools of 4 and bonus points. The top 2 teams in each pool play off in semis and a final. Adjust the pools every year so that teams still get to play against each other.
Owen McCaffrey
Roar Guru
Agreed. People will want games against other nations as long as there is a competitive match. And the way to get there is by these Tier 2 teams being good enough to play against Tier 1 sides on a regular basis. Immediately pulling these teams into Tier 1 competitions may not be the correct answer. Various ideas have been floated in the media in recent months such as a Tier 2 World Cup, expanding the 2023 World Cup to 24 teams. Current initiative also assist such as the HSBC Sevens and World Rugby support for more International games for Tier 2 nations. The Club game really has to expand for these nations too so that professionals in Tier 1 nations are not playing amateurs in Tier 2 nations. To this end World Rugby focuses on supporting top to bottom development of a nations rugby infrastructure. To this end, Tier 2 nations need their clubs' access to the ERC competition, Southern Hemisphere players need to be allowed into Super Rugby teams and the USA Pro Rugby competition needs support.
Johnno
Guest
Scotland have poor youth teams, and a poor women's rugby set up, lowly ranked in women's rugby to in both senior and youth teams, and scotish high school rugby is off a poor standard, And there cleric clubs that play in rabo direct are in debt, and diwndling crowds, revenue and tv ratings, Scotish rugby is in worse shape than OZ rugby, Homer.
Jack
Guest
It is a rwc year so there will be no illusions about who has the mustard when they come up against the bigger contenders.
Homer Gain
Guest
Except that isn't what he says. In any case, as a perceptive article last week pointed out, Scotland are now where Ireland were in the 1990s, so the notion that they are on an irremediably downward path is wrong. When I was a nipper England were every bit as embarrassing as Scotland are at present and Wales in the 80s and 90s had a long fallow patch. So, much as it is fun enjoying the Jocks discomfort, I doubt it is a permanent state of affairs . And having spent the last 8 months working with lots of Italians, I've been amazed at just how seriously they take their rugby. That is a huge market just waiting to be exploited. None of the rising European countries (all of whom are flattered because they rarely play the bigger teams) can compare with the tradition in Scotland or the potential in Italy.
Owen McCaffrey
Roar Guru
In my mind the most possible way to accommodate Second Tier Nations into both the NH and SH regular schedules is in off-years. For example once every four years between world Cups, or every two years. NH and SH Tier one nations will be open to change if it comes with the benefit of growing their worldwide broadcast revenues especially in Asia and Europe. This will be done in a slow and conservative manner though.
Tigranes
Guest
It wasnt so long ago that Scotland beat Australia in Australia...but yeah Italy are awful, they havent achieved anything...never beaten NZ, Australia or South Africa. I like reading these reports, and its clear that Georgia and Romania are better than their opponents. Both countries need to increase their playing base and resources. I dont know why Russia is allowed to compete given the politcal issues. Germany is a wealthy country, but they need to improve. Germans are used to their sporting teams being great, if they are getting hammered by Georgia, then what would Australia do to them? I suspect the IRB is going after the "sexy" places like USA, China and Germany at the expense of places like Georgia, Madagascar and Romania, where there is a lot more potential for rugby to be more popular, but which are economic basket cases.
Johnno
Guest
The way Matthew you put the 6 nations out of business is enough fans in the NH stop watching it. At the moment it seems, the 6 teams fans tolerate and enjoy the format if crowds/tv ratings are anything to go buy. The crowds looked good this year, don't know about the TV ratings. If these 6 Euro teams say, they want a more pan-Euro cup, the 6 rugby boards of these nations will listen and scrap the 6 nations, but for now it seems the fans enjoy this meaningless tournament, this non-true Euro title. Or enough do anyway. I've stopped watching it, as it feels meaningless, same 6 Euro teams each year.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
The 6 Nations should be scrapped altogether its one big opaque masonic incestuous beast that typifies all thats wrong with World Rugby- archaic monopoly of power, resource and opportunity injustice at every level , bullying to the nth degree so that no one has the courage to notice it anymore among many other sins of commission and omission . It's time the whole rotten facade was torn down and a ONE COUNTRY ONE VOTE system was instituted -Justice, Transparency Opportunity for All !!!
Johnno
Guest
pjm They already have. The 5/8 in the 6 nations was a NZ born Samoan, Kelly Haimona, used to play in the ITM cup. A few years ago one of there backorders was a Fijian. It's happening, don't worry. And there 2 Rabo direct sides have pacific islanders in them.
carnivean
Roar Rookie
Not that I want to defend Johnno... I think he means that it won't exist in the current format, or even slightly expanded format (6N, 7N, 8N) by 2030. It's nearing the point where a disruption event could happen, such as happened when the clubs had a fight over the Heineken cup (IIRC) and were threatening a breakaway event. The evidence being that Scotland and Italy are falling away in standard from the others, and currently lower tiered teams are approaching the required standard. In the end their standard won't matter so much as the potential for someone to make money, but if Scotland and Italy matches stop making as much money, then someone will explore other options.
Homer Gain
Guest
"I doubt the 6 nations will exist after 2030" based on nil evidence. If anything the success of teams like NZ and Ireland in which domestic leagues are entirely subordinated to the interests of the national team, combined with economic realities that make the club game unsustainable without a) wealthy owners and b) infusions of cash from the national RUs (funded by the 6N) suggest the soccer model is hardly likely to be emulated by NH rugby. Quite the silliest statement I've seen on here in a long time. Are you Spiro in disguise?
Johnno
Guest
Georgie have an under-20's side there not bad. Don't know if they have ladies side.
Bakkies
Guest
Fans don't care ? Utter crap look at the attendances and tv ratings. It's a huge money spinning despite being on terrestrial tv.
Bakkies
Guest
Opposition aside, it doesn't get mentioned a lot fitness is a big problem with Italy. They're a 50-60 min team and have been for some time. Need to be more fitter in other areas to play Brunel's wider game. Goal kicking is a massive problem. When Italy were let in there was no real development to replace the stalwarts. Up until a few years back they have focused on it but the FIR is a basketcase. It's all about developing players. The player base has increased. In regards to Georgia their club and player base is tiny. They have to get assistance to work on that. They have to field under 20s and a ladies side as well to play in the 6 Nations.
Johnno
Guest
Eventually, Euro rugby will move down the soccer path. 16-teams, held every 4 years. Don't forget in Soccer as late as 1992, only 8-teams would compete Euro championships. Euro 92, which Denmark won, was only an 8-yeam tournament. Then in England for Euro 96, they expanded it too 16-teams, now in 206 in France it will move to 24. 6-nations is feeling a bit stale and meaningless, the same Euro cup held every year is meaningless, and fans don't care. Club rugby develops plays like soccer now in Europe, not internationals. I doubt the 6 nations will exist after 2030.