2013 European Nations Cup / Six Nations B

[Nielsch]

Belgium are the best team by far to come up in a while all 6 teams are now competetive, almost makes me sad that one of these teams are going to get relegated in two years and the side that comes up will probably be much weaker.

I kinda understand what you are saying but I wouldn't mind seeing Germany - who have really invested in their senior team as well as their youth and are currently topping the ENC 1B Division - to have a go at the countries in division 1A.

 

[Nielsch]

Georgia - Portugal highlights:

 

[dragos03]

The full Romania-Russia match can be watched on www.rugbytv.ro

 

[Tonga_rugby]

Belgium 21
Tries: Demolder, Piron
Cons: Williams (1/2)
Pens: Williams (3/7)

Spain 21
Tries: M. Tudela, Cartes
Cons: Carrión (1/1), Fernández (0/1)
Pens: Carrión (2/3), Fernández (1/1)

1st half - http://www.e-k.tv/videos/299-belgia...09-02-2013-1st-half-tournoi-des-six-nations-b
2nd half - http://www.e-k.tv/videos/299-belgia...09-02-2013-2nd-half-tournoi-des-six-nations-b

 

[dragos03]

Romania - Russia 29-14 highlights:

 

[dragos03]

Georgia has refused to play the ENC match against Romania in the city of Cluj, even if the Romanian Federation arranged for the game to happen on the Elite Stadium in there. As a result, the game will be played on the small "Arcul de Triumf" stadium in Bucharest.

Too bad, would have been awesome for an ENC match to be played here:

 

[djwizard84]

Georgia has refused to play the ENC match against Romania in the city of Cluj, even if the Romanian Federation arranged for the game to happen on the Elite Stadium in there. As a result, the game will be played on the small "Arcul de Triumf" stadium in Bucharest.

Too bad, would have been awesome for an ENC match to be played here:

It's a shame, the stadium is incrediable! do you think it would be possible to sell a couple of 1000's tickets?

 

[Toko_11]

Why did they refuse? 0o they must have a good Reason.. Georgia vs Romania is the enc final and antim cup matchup...strange... only reason I could see is if there are no Direct flights to the city of cluj because gru has reall issues with bus rides... its disappointig that we wont see an ENC match on a world class stadium this year since the Georgian national stadium went into private ownership and gru can't hold their games on 55k seater anymore..

 

[dragos03]

There are plenty of flights to the Cluj airport, but that was the official reason: not enough tickets available (it's simple to see that is not true on any online booking website). I won't comment on the real reason.

Anyway, I don't think the 33000 seats Cluj Arena could have been sold out for this game, but I guess half of the stadium could have been filled with the right marketing.

 

[Nielsch]

That's a shame. Would have loved to see the possible grand slam decider in that stadium.

 

[LittleGuy]

Why did they refuse? 0o they must have a good Reason.. Georgia vs Romania is the enc final and antim cup matchup...strange... only reason I could see is if there are no Direct flights to the city of cluj because gru has reall issues with bus rides... its disappointig that we wont see an ENC match on a world class stadium this year since the Georgian national stadium went into private ownership and gru can't hold their games on 55k seater anymore..

Are they playing in the 27,000 seater Toko? I think it was called the Mikhael Mekishi(not sure on spelling) stadium if I recall.

 

[Toko_11]

Are they playing in the 27,000 seater Toko? I think it was called the Mikhael Mekishi(not sure on spelling) stadium if I recall.

Yes the next game will be played on Mikheil meskhi which isn't a bad arena but nowhere near Dinamo arena standards. and they can only hold the games there if the Georgian(football
) championship matches are not played on the same weekend(stadium belongs to Georgian football federation). which during the later ENC games will be the case so GRU haven't decided where the last game is going to be played. They don't want to play on the 2000 seater rugby stadiums which will leave huge amount of support annoyed and also whoever visits will feel... offended because we let other teams play on Meskhi. Fans have already expressed their outrage and are asking to let Georgian national team play on stadiums both Dinamo and Meskhi unconditionally.

Dragos why GRU doesn't want to play on Cluj arena is still puzzling to me if that is not the real reason as said then maybe you can tell us what you suspect is the real reason ?

 

[dragos03]

Dragos why GRU doesn't want to play on Cluj arena is still puzzling to me if that is not the real reason as said then maybe you can tell us what you suspect is the real reason ?

I don't know. Since you're Georgian, maybe you can find out? I could only speculate, and that would be pointless.

 

[Toko_11]

I don't know. Since you're Georgian, maybe you can find out? I could only speculate, and that would be pointless.

well there hasn't been a word about this on any of the Georgian forums which means people still have no clue about it. and i doubt GRU will come out and make any announcements so I really have no clue at this point.

 

[Tonga_rugby]

Round 3

Russia 9-23 Georgia
Russia: 3 Pens
Georgia: 2 tries, 2 trans, 3 Pens

Spain - Rumania
16h (GTM+1)

Portugal - Belgium
15h (GTM+0) - 16h (GTM+1)

 

[Mihnea Cristian Ionescu]

1. well its obvious that the atmosphere would be simmilar to a volcano on that stadium , so the Georgia officials noticed that. however , i am glad that i can be able to go watch the game since it's 7 km away form my home and not 300
2. tonight i think Romania will win against ESP , not by much , but by enough, since the players seem to have a better stamina since we got Lynn Howells as a manager . I am curious to figure out if there are any new schemes in the tactics for tonight .
here is the line-up :
Romania: 15. Catalin Fercu, 14. Adrian Apostol, 13. Robert Dascalu, 12. Florin Vlaicu, 11. Mihai Rosca, 10. Dorin Manole, 9. Florin Surugiu, 1. Ursache Andrei, 2. Andrei Radoi, 3. Paulica Ion, 4. Valentin Ursache, 5. Marius Sirbe, 6. Viorel Lucaci, 7. Mihai Macovei, 8. Daniel Carpo.
Rezerve: 16. Eugen Capatana, 17. Horatiu Pungea, 18. Petru Tamba, 19. Cornel Tatu, 20. Alexandru Mitu, 21. Ciprian Caprescu, 22. Csaba Gal, 23. Ionut Niacsu.


Spania: 15 Cesar Sempere, 14.Julen Goia, 13.Matias Tudela, 12.Carlos Blanco, 11. Pedro Martin, 10.Carey Simpson, 9.Pablo Feijoo, 1.Joe Hutchinson, 2.Juan Anaya, 3.Jesus Moreno, 4.Mathew Cook, 5.Jesus Recuerda, 6.Jon Magunazelaia, 7.Glen Rolls, 8.Lionel Pardo
Rezerve:16.Benat Auzqui, 17.David Gugernadze, 18.Agustin Ortiz, 19.Anibal Bonan, 20.Joan Tudela, 21.Juan Pablo Ceretto, 22.Jaime Nava, 23.Jaike Carter.


the key of the match wil be in my opinion the following: Spain shoul advoid the romanian scrum/maul / forwarding attack , meanwhile the Oaks prove to have some issues in handling the ball when trying to score with the backs . also the spanish counterattacks should be crucial and dangerous .

 

[LittleGuy]

Romania have defeated Spain 25-15, looks like Romania and Georgia starting to pull away in the standings, good stuff from the Oaks many were tipping them to miss the next RWC, but so far they are playing very well. I wonder if Spain will invite some of those French based players back after a series of dissapointing results.

As I write this Portugal are ahead of Belgium 15-9 but things are tight. Going to be very interesting battle for the third spot in European qualifying and the reward of the repechage chance. Any of the four teams below Romania and Georgia are in contetntion for it.

The final score of Portugal-Belgium was 18-12....also I listed the wrong score on the Romania game eariler I copied the wrong tweet, the correct score has been edited in.

 

[Nielsch]

Round 3 results:

Russia - Georgia 9-23
Spain - Romania 15-25
Portugal - Belgium 18-12

2013 European Nations Cup standings after round 3 (of 5)

1. Romania 12 points
2. Georgia 12 points
3. Portugal 5 points
4. Belgium 4 points
5. Russia 4 points
6. Spain 3 points

Rugby World Cup qualifying / relegation standings after round 3 (of 10)

1. Romania 12 points
2. Georgia 12 points
3. Portugal 5 points
4. Belgium 4 points
5. Russia 4 points
6. Spain 3 points

Well it's pretty clear that both Georgia and Romania are ahead of the other four teams in this group. However the battle for the 3rd spot (from which a nation can still qualify for the 2015 RWC) and to avoid relegation is going to be really close I guess.

Belgium has been really unlucky so far, with close defeats to Georgia and Portugal and a draw against Spain. Could have been much higher up.

 

[norcalbuff]

Belgium has led at halftime of every match they've played. Wonder if fitness is an issue.

 

[Nielsch]

Spain - Romania