2017 Rugby Europe Championship

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Even less to talk about in the second half as the pitch deteriorated a little. A comfortable but slightly nervy win for Romania. Spain really need to learn to play a more territorial game in poor conditions.

 

[dragos03]

We were absolutely awful and couldn't score more points against an opponent that was unable to even enter our 22 the entire match. It's like our game has regressed by 10 years in just 3 months and we can only execute the most basic forward-powered attacks.

We need all of our starters in Russia and hopefully the confidence and fitness level of our players will improve a bit until then, since the Superliga clubs will restart their training.

 

[bakakumon]

Belgium takes the lead, 15-12!

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Belgium almost causing a sensation. Highlights of the disappointing Romania vs Spain.

https://youtu.be/vG1tG0p2lVc

 

[dragos03]

Not exactly highlights, just some random tackles and clashes that illustrate the physical nature of the match.

I must say that FRR and the volunteers did an amazing job with the pitch, completely transforming it in only two hours. It held up a lot better than I expected, given the conditions. Props to the Spanish union as well, they fully cooperated with the FRR to avoid the postponement of the match. If all of the unions in the REC would work together like that, this tournament could really improve.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Well, some might say the tackles were the highlight! Extended highlights below. Happy to see these being created even if they are a week late.

https://youtu.be/bITw-o9Q-yk

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

This weeks fixtures look good on paper, but might not quite so competitive in reality.

http://www.rugbyeurope.eu/welcome-rugby-europe-tv

Russia vs Romania - Russia really struggling playing at this time of year, perhaps more so than Romania. Russian morale must also be low, but this is an absolute must win for them to have any hope of RWC qualification.

Spain vs Georgia - sounds like both teams going with experimental teams as this match does not count to RWC qualification. A real shame as it'd have been interesting to see what a full strength Spain could have done.

Germany vs Belgium - Belgium showing a lot of pluck in their first two games and could have beaten Russia. Germany at home should have too much though, particularly as they are still dreaming of the RWC.

 

[dragos03]

We are pathetic but Russia is even worse than we are.

Russia - Romania 3-14 HT

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Yes, not great quality. It is like Howells has put RWC qualification in the hands of his forwards after the Germany game. Not a whole of ambition to play the kind of rugby we saw in November. Hopefully if Romania can get 20+ points ahead we'll see a little more attacking from them. If previous games are anything to go by I expect Russian fitness to hurt them in the last 25 minutes.

 

[dragos03]

It might sound odd to complain after a decisive bonus-point win against the main qualification rival, but we have been absolutely awful. As for Russia, they don't belong anywere near the RWC after such a perfomance against a terrible and depleted Oaks team.

Crazy ending, Romania first lost the offernsive bonus point, then the Russians could have got a defensive one but a pass intercepted by Rose of all people gave the bonus back to the Oaks.

Russia - Romania 10-30 (or 32, not sure) FT

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Romania back on track for RWC qualification with a comfortable away win in Russia. Not one the players will tell their grandchildren about though.

- - - Updated - - -

I think the last conversion went wide, so score was 10-30 for me. It is tough for Russia, but they need to quicky find out how the same playersr that excel at club level look very, very ordinary in their national jersey. It's not like Russia were much good in November either, when the players will still have been fit in their mid season. The more Russian rugby I watch, the more confused I become!

- - - Updated - - -

And on Romania, at least after the shambles against Germany you have bounced back defensively and came close to not conceding a try in 160 minutes against two of your closest rivals in the competition. Better performances will come.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Another massive shock in the REC may be developing. Spain lead Georgia 10-3 after 29mins. Official feed keeps cutting out.

http://www.rugbyeurope.eu/rugby-europe-international-championships-m2-spain-vs-georgia

 

[Brigantine]

Another massive shock in the REC may be developing. Spain lead Georgia 10-3 after 29mins. Official feed keeps cutting out.

http://www.rugbyeurope.eu/rugby-europe-international-championships-m2-spain-vs-georgia

Germany - Belgium also only has 7 points in it after 30 mins, and it seems to be deteriorating almost into a fistfight at times.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Totally mad to have the game overlap with Spain vs Georgia. Germany look to have the measure of Belgium and stretching the lead. Looks like a reasonable crowd to me too, much better than against Romania and in the same stadium? I like how the fans are shepherded to sit in the same area rather than spread out all over the stand.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

Germany are an excellent side to watch, they just scored an outstanding try to surely put the game beyond Belgium and it really helps that their goal kicker kicks everything

- - - Updated - - -

Totally mad to have the game overlap with Spain vs Georgia. Germany look to have the measure of Belgium and stretching the lead. Looks like a reasonable crowd to me too, much better than against Romania and in the same stadium? I like how the fans are shepherded to sit in the same area rather than spread out all over the stand.

Yep the crowd is very good, you can actually hear an atmosphere there as well. The capacity of the stadium is apparently 20,500 so I would say there's about 10,000 ish there which is very good

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I'd say nearer 6-7000, but against Romania it was only 3,500 I think. Belgium making a real game of this, a shame I couldn't watch most of it due to the clash with Spain vs Georgia.

Spain played some really good rugby in the second half with Georgia, but lose 10-20. Notable that Spain appeared to have a number of 20-21 year olds being some of their better performers.

 

[amz]

Some good rugby from Germany, definentely a growing side which is developing nicely.

Spain - Georgia was quite a tight match but Lelos needed to revert to their forward play to get the win in the end. However, Spain was gutsy and attacked well and their rucking is improving.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

German 34-29 Belgium

Hopefully highlights of that come out. Was that German side near full strength? With their last two brave losing results Belgium are really making me stand up and take notice.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

Some good rugby from Germany, definentely a growing side which is developing nicely.

Spain - Georgia was quite a tight match but Lelos needed to revert to their forward play to get the win in the end. However, Spain was gutsy and attacked well and their rucking is improving.

Yep good performance from Germany although they really need to work on defending better and keeping their concentration levels up. They thought the game was won at 27-6 (I did too) but Belgium brought it back to 27-21 and gave Germany a bit of a scare in the end. Good performance though and another bonus point for them.
I though Spain were very unfortunate not to take anything from the game against Georgia, try line fever seemed to kick in at times. Lots of positives for them there though. Georgia's scrum though is something else, it demolished everything and anything in its path it seems!

- - - Updated - - -

German 34-29 Belgium

Hopefully highlights of that come out. Was that German side near full strength? With their last two brave losing results Belgium are really making me stand up and take notice.

It appeared to be a close to full strength team I think but I'm not too sure about that one. Belgium have surprised me too, I thought they would be the whipping boys of this tournament but they've given every team a run for their money so far

 

[dragos03]

Lol, I expected Russia vs Romania to be a close match and blowout wins for Georgia and Germany in the other two games. It was exactly the opposite.