2017 Rugby Europe Championship

[Car]

Belgium literally fought their way back into the match and we simply weren't prepared to that. The ref should have stepped in at times, but you need to take up the fight and not become so soft. It reminded the commentators of Germany v Romania a bit and there's some truth to that. It seems they really thought the match was won and maybe all that talk about the World Cup dream was too much?

We were without Damien Tussac and Christopher Hilsenbeck, but the number of missing players wasn't too high.

No bonus point for us, though. The rules for the offensive bonus point are those they use in France (3 tries more than the opponent), not the ones used in the Six Nations.

Yep, the commentators mentioned that the crowd was better than last time and it was the same stadium.

We're wearing adidas shirts now and had a DHL logo on our back, nice surprise there.

 

[dragos03]

The reason why Russia underperforms compared to its top clubs is very simple: the best forwards at those clubs are foreigners (this might not be very obvious because most of them are from ex-Soviet nations and have Slavic names). Their tight 5 is simply too weak, even the amateurs from Belgium obliterated the Russian scrum.

Also, the best Russian backs are good solo runners who can devastate an opponent with poor tacklers but are not effective against any team with a decent defense. That's why guys like Simplikevich or Artemyev have always been completely anonymous in the matches vs Romania or Georgia. Simplikevich was easily neutralized by Ionut Dumitru today, while Lemnaru proved to be faster than him for the second Romanian try.

 

[Car]

Totalrugby.de mentioned that there were 4126 people at the Germany match. I think the previous match had like 2500. An improvement, but we could and should do better (and did, IIRC).

 

[Welshdragon2000]

Totalrugby.de mentioned that there were 4126 people at the Germany match. I think the previous match had like 2500. An improvement, but we could and should do better (and did, IIRC).

I was a bit optimistic with my 10,000 figure then haha

 

[dragos03]

A very interesting clip with the Romanian bench reaction when Rose score the unexpected bonus point try:
https://www.facebook.com/rugbyromania/videos/10155105431153270/

 

[Welshdragon2000]

How is the table looking now in terms of World Cup qualifying? Do we forget about the games against Georgia for qualifying itself?

 

[Brigantine]

How is the table looking now in terms of World Cup qualifying? Do we forget about the games against Georgia for qualifying itself?

Correct

Romania 10
Germany 8
Spain 4
Russia 4
Belgium 2

If every remaining game is won by the favourite, with no further bonus points: (Using Spain as the favourite over Germany, even though according to pure rankings and home advantage they aren't)

Romania 14
Spain 12
Germany 8
Russia 8
Belgium 2

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

So unless Spain slip up unexpectedly Romania may have to win in Spain next year. No wonder they are celebrating bonus points I guess. If they pick up enough then they might even be able to afford a bad result in Spain next year.

 

[dragos03]

If Germany beats both Spain and Russia, they could even top the RWC table for this year with 16 points. We did this to ourselves, without that defeat in Germany we would have been almost qualified already, 6 points clear of everybody else.

Every single bonus point matters for Romania now to compensate that defeat. I was really annoyed that we kicked all penalties against Spain in Bucharest, we should have been more confident. Two more tries and a bonus in that match would have made things easier.

The FRR must do anything is needed to get our best squad for every REC match next year, we can't keep improvising like this. Even if we have to make a deal with the French clubs not to call up those players in June and November. I'd rather see the Oaks reserves trashed in Japan and Canada this summer than lose direct RWC qualification.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I don't know. I think Romania were right to show Spain respect by kicking penalties to secure the win. Spain showed what they are capable of in the second half against Georgia when they are playing in good weather conditions. If you had lost to them then you would almost be focussing on the repechage option.

Spain are very dangerous and I expect them to secure a bonus point victory in Germany given the amount of points Germany have been conceding (if the weather is okay).

If Romania cannot get agreement from French clubs about releasing players perhaps they should do what most Tier 1 countries do and only select players that play domestically over the next 12 months to build up some continuity of selection?

 

[dragos03]

Spain is not consistent, I haven't seen their match against Georgia but in Bucharest they were no threat in attack and didn't even enter out 22 the entire match (not counting that absurd disallowed try). We should have targeted the 5 points instead of playing safe.

The winner of Spain vs Germany next week will be the main rival of the Oaks for direct qualification. Russia must beat Germany in the last round to mantain any hope for the repechage spot.

I strongly doubt Spain can get a bonus point in Germany, they were quite inept in attack in every match so far.

 

[Osezno]

I agree, although against Georgia we were way longer on their 22 than against Romania. But without a decent kicker and stupid handling mistakes in the last meters, there is little hope of a bonus point in any game. Let's first try to score, then think about winning games and finally pray for some bonus.

Our defense has been top notch so far, but there isn't more on our side. 10 (Bélie), 12/13 (Snee/Ãlvarez/Perrin) aren't creative at all, we saw against Georgia more from youngsters Ramos and Gimeno as 9 and 12 than with them, although it would be risky to play the big games with a core of 19-20-21 years old players. In the wings, more of the same. Jorba is 19 years old and Ascarat, the first choice for 14, was only available against Russia. But at least yesterday we saw some improvement as a team and people returning from injuries (particularly in the first row) is to be expected against Germany and Belgium, so anything less than 8 points would be a failure as much as I fear the Germans.

 

[dragos03]

Anything can happen in your match vs Germany but you'll surely get 5 points against Belgium.

Spain has a fighting chance, if you win your games you will go to the RWC. I obviously hope that Romania will qualify directly but Spain is my favourite from the other teams and I think you can make it through the repechage.

I've said it before, but in my opinion Spain has the best development prospects of all ENC nations. Big and rich country with a great tradition in team sports, you already have a semi-pro league in place, close to the French rugby heartland, amazing sports infrastructure, a good number of French players with Spanish heritage, etc. The internal competition in Spain might be quite weak but it supports itself and doesn't depend on a sugar daddy like in Georgia or Germany.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I am putting Spain's very ordinary performances against Russia and Romania down a little to weather conditions / wet playing surface. But yes, they are inconsistent and my prediction may end up being well off (though I stand by it!).

I think nerves are playing a big part. As the saying in football kind of goes, "a final will be a bad game". When so much is at stake like RWC qualification, you focus as a coach and a player, on not making mistakes. Rather than on smashing your opponent. That may explain why Spain played with more freedom against Georgia and why Romania are unrecognisable from November after their bright start in the opening minutes against Germany.

 

[Brigantine]

Germany are in a bit of a tight spot with their stars busy in the Top 14 and final round of the Pro D2 this weekend.

Anyone know yet how strong a squad Spain have?

 

[Osezno]

Quite strong. Only two players haven't been released by French clubs, Charly Malié and Sébastien Ascarat.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Last week's games were all more surprising than I think we expected. I think it'll be three fairly straightforward victories, but hopefully we get more unpredictability.


Belgium vs Romania (11/03, 1400hrs GMT)
Belgium impressing, but Romania should have too much, particularly as Vlaicu has passed fit so they don't have to put the pot-bellied Rose at fly half! I'll be interested to see 11 & 12 for Romania, who I don't think I've seen before for the Oaks (11 Cobden is a debutant and to me a surprising selection given the struggles of his club CSM this year. He didn't have a whole lot of opportunity to show what he was capable of from what I watched).


Germany vs Spain (11/03, 1515hrs GMT)
As per posts above, sounds like Spain have had more luck getting players released from the French leagues than Germany have. So I'll be sticking to my prediction of a comfortable Spanish victory. Will be interesting to watch young winger Jordi Jorba at 11.


Georgia vs Russia (12/03???, 1400hrs GMT - listed in error on Rugby Europe TV as "Sunday 11/03")
Thanks to Dragos' explanation of the weakness of the Russian pack compared to their club sides, I expect this to be unpleasantly one-sided!

 

[dragos03]

I suspect Rose can't start because he's pregnant.

To have a better idea about the Russian forwards, Evgeny Elgin was a starter at lock in all of their REC matches so far. But at his club Enisey-STM he is actually the 4th choice on that position, behind Maxim Gargalic (Moldova), Uldis Saulite (Latvia) and Vyacheslav Krasilnik (Ukraine). He rarely plays at club level, you can't expect this guy to be able to stop someone like Gorgodze. Also, most of the Russian props are actually converted wrestlers with very poor rugby technique.

To make things even worse for Russia, Georgia sees them as their sworn enemies and will make all efforts to hammer them, supported by a full stadium that will come to watch the only team sport where Georgia is capable to humiliate its historical overlord. Not to mention their morale must be extremely low after last week's result vs Romania anyway.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Cobden scores on debut after great pass from Vlaicu. Couple of good moves already for Romania and they appear to rightly be targeting a vital bonus point. Another handy crowd in Belgium, will be interesting to see how they respond.

 

[dragos03]

Belgium - Romania 0-14 HT, both tries were scored by Cobden after good backline moves. Belgium are very agressive in rucks and tried twice to start a fight. I hope we stay focused in the second half, a bonus point win here is mandatory.