Rugby Europe Championship & Trophy 2022

[Ainsthrilln]

Hah, you can breathe again. Just 1 minute with no mistake.

Thank you Bruce, you jinxed them.

 

[Yulia]

Yeah,thank you Bruuuuce

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Thank you Bruce, you jinxed them.

Ssshhh. Yulia will now kill me.

People will talk about the referee but the biggest error in the game by far is somehow dropping the ball in a maul with no pressure. Spain so impressive for whole of added time. One handling error and they lose. Even the final offload for the try, the prop took the catch superbly under the circumstances.

I hope my favour of Russia is not taken personally. I like Russia and Romania because they invest in a professional league and I want to see that rewarded.

 

[Ainsthrilln]

Ssshhh. Yulia will now kill me.

People will talk about the referee but the biggest error in the game by far is somehow dropping the ball in a maul with no pressure. Spain so impressive for whole of added time. One handling error and they lose. Even the final offload for the try, the prop took the catch superbly under the circumstances.

I hope my favour of Russia is not taken personally. I like Russia and Romania because they invest in a professional league and I want to see that rewarded.

Don't worry, Russians are now too busy in Ukraine to track and kill you.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Romania vs Portugal streaming

Romania v Portugal

Romania play Portugal in Round 2 of the Rugby Europe Championship 2022

www.rugbyeurope.eu

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Bit of a nothing opening quarter to this match. I've been spoilt by the Russia game. Much more nerves and conservative play on show in this one (which I expected in both matches).

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Romania so poor, disjointed and seemingly nervous. They finally woke up after 39mins to get a try through their physicality but had conceded a couple of messy / freakish tries before then. Portugal not even having to show anything like top gear.

Rom 13 - 22 Por

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Romania coming out with a lot more aggression and physicality. 27-27. Anybody's with 20mins left.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Romania win and a try at the death means Portugal lose the losing BP. 37-27 it ends. The key moment for me was Romania reverting to their wily scrum half Surguili in the 2nd half. From that moment on there was a focus on physical forwards imposing themselves and Portugal simply got no ball. I think it was 24 unanswered points. The Romanian bench in general may have been stronger too in the forwards. Your guess is as good as mine how the qualification ends.

 

[Goodey]

Feel like Romania showed enough today that they can control the game at this level when they need to.



Assuming Georgia hold on to Europe 1 - winning at home to Russia next will seal it afaic - Romania are in the best position to get 2. Unlike Spain, they still have a game against the Netherlands to come which looks like a free 5 points right now. That puts them on minimum 27 plus probably at least a LPB at home to Georgia. So even if Romania lose to Spain, Portugal are unlikely to catch them.

Portugal do have that draw in Tblisi which no one else is likely to get, but that's just enough to offset their lack of bonus points. Spain get two bites at playing both their big rivals at home in the next two weeks, one win getting them 3rd and two wins probably landing them 2nd. Russia, who are away to Georgia next, are pretty much out of it.

So Georgia 1, Romania 2, and the decider for 3rd will be Spain v Portugal next month.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Feel like Romania showed enough today that they can control the game at this level when they need to.

View attachment 13271

Assuming Georgia hold on to Europe 1 - winning at home to Russia next will seal it afaic - Romania are in the best position to get 2. Unlike Spain, they still have a game against the Netherlands to come which looks like a free 5 points right now. That puts them on minimum 27 plus probably at least a LPB at home to Georgia. So even if Romania lose to Spain, Portugal are unlikely to catch them.

Portugal do have that draw in Tblisi which no one else is likely to get, but that's just enough to offset their lack of bonus points. Spain get two bites at playing both their big rivals at home in the next two weeks, one win getting them 3rd and two wins probably landing them 2nd. Russia, who are away to Georgia next, are pretty much out of it.

So Georgia 1, Romania 2, and the decider for 3rd will be Spain v Portugal next month.

Yes, Romania are just about home and hosed unless they can't even get a losing BP to Georgia AND lose to Spain (leaving them on a worst case scenario of 27 points after spanking Ned). They would be vulnerable then. Any of the following possible scenarios also create issues for Romania:

- Portugal win their last three games with winning BPs (entirely possible, but likely leading to a tiebreaker and they've lost to Romania twice) - 31 points, would tie Romania even if Romania won in Spain

- Spain beat Romania and Portugal at home - 29 points minimum

- Spain beat Romania with a BP but lose to Portugal (would likely take a red card) AND snatch a losing BP in Georgia and/or against Portugal (27 or 28 points). In this scenario Romania can even finish fourth by my calculations and this is not a ludicrous scenario. But because of the 3 try difference BP it's not really possible for Portugal to get a winning BP vs Spain AND Spain get a losing BP in same game, so the worst case scenario for Romania is probably joint third on a tiebreaker unless Spain so something unimaginable in Tblisi.

However, it is extremely far fetched for both Spain and Portugal to leapfrog Romania now, so they are almost guaranteed the repechage playoff spot as a minimum.

Portugal fronted up against the stronger Georgian pack last week for the full 80, so they will be gutted at getting steamrollered today. They never got close to top performance and it was kind of like the stereotypical Scotland hangover performance after a good result.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

It is a rest week for the REC, but there is a big match in the Trophy with Germany hosting Belgium to effectively see who will challenge Poland for the t!tle (and the second rumoured promotion spot).

1400hrs kick-off UTC

Germany v Belgium

Germany take on Belgium in the Rugby Europe Trophy

www.rugbyeurope.eu

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

30 mins into game. German commentary stream on YouTube. 14-9 to Belgium.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

33-26 FT to Belgium. Fairly entertaining but unclear what the standard is. Belgium and Poland will fight it out for the t!tle and are favourites to secure the two promotion slots (should expansion/promotion ever actually be confirmed). The losing BP for Germany keeps them in the hunt for promotion should Poland slip up.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

An interesting interview with the head of the Portguese union. The main points being:

- Italy to visit Portugal in June
- €500,000 required professionalise Lusitanos
- plans for Currie cup involvement, with half the team Portuguese raised and the other half South Africans with Portguese descent (yet to be identified)
- very proud of ongoing improvement at age grades
- thinks working class players are vital as they are more likely to stick with the sport and make it their career despite modest salaries.
- Morgan Parra wasn't selected with the new eligibility rule because they are happy enough with their current scrum halves (and didn't want to parachute him in?)

I don't agree with all that he is doing but here is a man with his head screwed on.

Presidente da federação de râguebi: “O Governo não liga nada ao desporto. Vêem algum ministro do Desporto?”

Começamos por aqui: como é ser presidente da Federação Portuguesa de Râguebi (FPR)? Como é o seu dia...

onovo.pt

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Fixtures this weekend. Spain vs Romania is the big one for RWC ramfiications. Georgia vs Russia really only matters in the chase for the REC crown.



Streaming by clicking 'match details' at

Rugby Europe Championship 2022

The Rugby Europe Championship 2022 will take place during February and March.

www.rugbyeurope.eu

 

[Goodey]

Both Romania and Spain have an extra bite if they lose here, with Romania unlikely to be caught by Portugal anyway, and Spain should be able to fend them off at home in the next round. This week does probably make a difference to 2nd v 3rd. Portugal would probably like a Romania win as then they can turn their match in Madrid into a proper decider to make the repechage.

Though Georgia losing might make the REC more interesting, I'd expect neutral support for Russia at this stage to be at a particularly low ebb, and I shan't make too much effort to go against that.

Edit: The Rugby Europe site has just demoted the Georgia-Russia game to 'TBC' status. Might be postponed.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Both Romania and Spain have an extra bite if they lose here, with Romania unlikely to be caught by Portugal anyway, and Spain should be able to fend them off at home in the next round. This week does probably make a difference to 2nd v 3rd. Portugal would probably like a Romania win as then they can turn their match in Madrid into a proper decider to make the repechage.

Though Georgia losing might make the REC more interesting, I'd expect neutral support for Russia at this stage to be at a particularly low ebb, and I shan't make too much effort to go against that.

Edit: The Rugby Europe site has just demoted the Georgia-Russia game to 'TBC' status. Might be postponed.

Yes, understandably postponed.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Live now.

Spain v Romania

Spain host Romania in Madrid for the Rugby Europe Championship 2022

www.rugbyeurope.eu

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Hats off to Spain. Lovely play in all aspects. Unrecognisable from last year. Leading 28-7 at HT and currently with a winning BP. The realistic Romanian goal must be to deny the winning BP and try and sneak a losing BP, but their backs have lot very disjointed the whole tournament. A really poor overall performance from Romania, just like the last game. I can't see them turning this around in the second half as the Spanish pack seems stronger than Portugal.