RUGBY EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP: 2C & 2D

24.10.2015
Luxembourg 34, Austria 6 in Vienna (REC 2C)

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	B	PT
LUXEMBOURG	5	5	0	0	115	35	80	2	22
SLOVENIA	4	3	0	1	92	53	49	2	14
AUSTRIA	6	2	0	4	98	143	-45	3	11
SERBIA	4	3	0	2	50	109	-59	0	8
DENMARK	5	0	0	5	89	114	-25	5	5

Review
Luxembourg were too strong for the home side. They led 13-6 at halftime.

"Bonus point secured with a try on the last play of the game. Very proud of all the players and staff. "Jonathan Flynn

‘Tries from Browne, Vert, Rossa and Olsen with 14 points from the boot of Browne’. http://www.rugby.lu/fr/actualites/luxembourg-wins-vs-austria

Bulgaria 34, Finland 15 in Sofia (REC 2D)

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	B	TL
BOSNIA H.	6	6	0	0	174	81	93	2	26
NORWAY	5	3	0	2	99	75	24	2	14
BULGARIA	6	2	0	4	113	180	-67	4	12
FINLAND	6	2	0	4	92	117	-25	2	10
TURKEY	5	1	0	4	105	130	-25	3	7

Review
4 tries and a bonus point to Bulgaria. Finland and Turkey look like they will battle for relegation when they meet in April 2016.

BULGARIA v FINLAND: REC 2D

Venue: Sofia

Referee: Robert Diaconescu (Romania)

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	B	TL
BOSNIA H.	6	6	0	0	174	81	93	2	25
NORWAY	5	3	0	2	99	75	24	2	14
FINLAND	5	2	0	3	77	83	-6	2	10
TURKEY	5	1	0	4	105	130	-25	3	7
BULGARIA	5	1	0	4	79	165	-86	3	7

Preview
Bulgaria had a horrific start to this campaign but improved against Norway at home to lose by only one point. A revamped side and playing at home should see a vast improvement.They need this win to pull themselves away from the relegation zone.

Issac Visser has been named Finnish interim coach who replaces Robert Hussey. No reason has been given for this move.

GWC Rugby Rankings
Europe Table: Finland 35th, Bulgaria 38th

World Rugby Ranking Points
Bulgaria 30.76, Finland 29.15

Prediction: Bulgaria by 14 points. Score 30-16

 

Teams are not available

RUGBY EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP: Division 2D

03.10.2015
Finland v Bosnia Herzegovina in Helsinki (REC 2D)

Image thanks to http://zeragbi.blogspot.co.uk/

Referee: Mike Hawkins (Denmark)

Preview
Home advantage says a lot at this level of international rugby. B-H never travel well so will find Finland a handful at home.

Previous Encounters
25.04.2015 Bosnia H. 29-7 in Zenica (REC 2D)
31.05.2014 Finland 29-24 in Turku (ENC 2D)
20.04.2013 Bosnia H. 19-15 in Sarajevo (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)
17.05.2008 Drawn 3-3 in Helsinki (ENC 3C)
07.10.2006 Finland 14-7 in Zenica (ENC 3C)

The above are all the games played between these two teams

GWC Rugby Rankings
Europe Table: Bosnia Herzegovina 34th, Finland 35th

World Rugby Ranking Points
Bosnia Herzegovina 35.43, Finland 29.89

Prediction: Bosnia Herzegovina by 1 point. Score 17-16

TEAMS

Bosnia Herzegovina Squad

Subašić Sabahudin, Oruč Haris, Alić Edib, Hamzić Adnan, Spahić Fadil, Gojković Dario, Zadić Armin, Suljić Ammar, Garanović Vedad, Topčić Semir, Keserović Danijel, Tuka Elvis, Mrkaljević Muhamed, Begić Haris, Ahmić Nejro, Turčinović Senad, Glavaš Selmir, Jovanović Damir, Petrušić Darijo, Stanković Zeid, Tufekčić Sedad, Pašanbegović Nusret i Ajanović Semir.

http://zeragbi.blogspot.co.uk/

Finland Squad not available

Bulgaria v Norway in Burgas (REC 2D)

Venue: Stadium Chernomorets

Referee: Norbert Mátrai (Hungary)

Preview
Bulgaria were simply awful and undermanned in their last away game against Norway. However at home they are usually too much for the opposition and I’d expect them to come un trumps.

Last Five Encounters
23.05.2015 Norway 43-0 in Bergan (REC 2D, 2nd leg)
10.05.2008 Norway 44-21 in Stavanger (ENC 3B)
19.05.2007 Bulgaria 25-10 in Sofia (ENC 3B)
26.10.2002 Bulgaria 21-12 in Sofia (ENC 3C)
04.05.2002 Bulgaria 11-3 in Sofia (FIRA Div. B, Pool C)

These two teams first met in 1997.

GWC Rugby Rankings
Europe Table: Norway 37th, Bulgaria 38th

World Rugby Ranking Points
Norway 32.78, Bulgaria 31.98

Prediction: Bulgaria by 16 points. Score 28-12

TEAMS

Norway

Image thanks to http://www.rugby.no/bulgaria-norge-3-oktober/

  

Bulgaria team not available

RUGBY EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

30.05.2015
Netherlands 24, Sweden 14 in Amsterdam (REC 1B)

23.05.2015
Ukraine 18, Netherlands 10 in Odessa (REC1B)
Finland 20, Turkey 12 in Helsinki (REC 2D)
Norway 43, Bulgaria 0 in Bergen (REC 2D)

TEST RUGBY RESULTS: REC 2C & 2D 25

25.04.2015
Serbia 25, Denmark 22 in Odense (REC 2C)
Slovenia 17, Austria 16 in Vienna (REC 2C)
Bosnia Herzegovina 29, Finland 7 in Zenica (REC 2D)
Turkey 28, Bulgaria 26 in Antalya (REC 2D)

Briefly
In a close game in Odense Serbia continued its amazing turnaround by defeating Denmark. Serbia is now looking a likely promotion candidate next season.

Slovenia just edged out home team Austria in another very close game. This is now Austria’s second loss in a row.

In Division 2D Bosnia Herzegovina were too good for visitors Finland whilst Turkey caused an upset defeating Bulgaria by two points. This was a second leg game meaning normally it would have been played next season.

REC 2D: BULGARIA V TURKEY

25.04.2015

Venue: Anatayla

Referee: Kalaxilos (Greece)

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	B	TL
BOSNIA H.	2	2	0	0	93	37	56	1	9
FINLAND	1	1	0	0	32	10	22	1	5
BULGARIA	2	1	0	1	38	78	-40	1	5
TURKEY	2	0	0	2	44	60	-16	2	2
NORWAY	1	0	0	1	10	32	-22	0	0

Preview

These European neighbours have always had an uneasy political relationship ever since Bulgaria pulled away from the Ottoman Empire back in the 1880’s.

These two teams have met once before. Last November Bulgaria won 26-19 in Sofia. This match is being played as a second leg fixture, rather than it being played next year.

In this competition the relegated team from ENC 2C, Bulgaria, meets the promoted team from ENC 3, Turkey. Turkey has been finding the rise to this level a tough one

Bulgaria has had a horror trot of international test rugby results since they were promoted to ENC 2C in 2012. There were relegated last year.

Turkey Last Five P 5, W3, L 2
01.11.2014 v Bulgaria L 19-26 in Sofia (REC 2D)
25.10.2014 v Bosnia Herzegovina L 25-34 in Edrine (REC 2D)
23.11.2013 v Slovakia W 55-3 in Bratislava (ENC 3)
20.11.2013 v Azerbaijan W 31-3 in Bratislava (ENC 3)
17.11.2012 v Azerbaijan W 53-3 in Kemer (ENC 3)

Bulgaria Last Five P 5, W 1, L 4
01.11.2014 v Turkey W 26-19 in Sofia (ENC 2D)
04.10.2014 v Bosnia Herzegovina L 12-59 in Zenica (ENC 2D)
26.04.2014 v Cyprus L 15-46 in Sofia (ENC 2C)
12.04.2014 v Slovenia L 17-43 in Ljubliana (ENC 2C)
19.10.2013 v Austria L 14-58 in Vienna (ENC 2C)

GWC Rugby Rankings
Europe Table: Bulgaria 35th, Turkey 39th

World Rugby Ranking Points do not apply as Turkey is not a full member of World Rugby.

Prediction: Bulgaria by 7 points. Score 19-12

TEAMS

    

Not available

EXTRA FIXTURE THIS WEEKEND

25.04.2015
Turkey v Bulgaria in Antalya (REC 2D)

This is the second time this season that a game for next season is to be played in this. Previously Norway and Finland were the first to play next seasons fixture almost straight after this seasons.

EUROPEAN NATIONS CUP: Divisions 2C and 2D

26.04.2014
Cyprus 46, Bulgaria 15 in Sofia (ENC 2C)
Luxembourg 52, Greece 8 in Thessalonika (ENC 2D)

Briefly
Cyprus continued its winning ways and extended their world record consecutive test wins to 22. Luxembourg’s big win places them at the top of ENC 2D table. Luxembourg are now the front contenders in what has been a very even competition up to now. They and Bosnia Herzegovina are the promotion candidates. Both play lowly Finland in their last two games and neither can afford to drop a bonus point in these games. All is set for an interesting end of play in this division

ENC 2C

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
CYPRUS	7	7	0	0	300	80	220	5	0	33
HUNGARY	7	5	0	2	186	77	109	2	2	24
SLOVENIA	7	3	0	4	101	182	-81	2	1	15
BULGARIA	8	2	0	6	116	342	-226	1	0	9
AUSTRIA	7	1	0	6	136	158	-22	1	3	8

Still To Play
03.05.2014 Austria v Slovenia in Vienna
17.05.2014 Cyprus v Hungary in Paphos

ENC 2D

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	TL
LUXEMBRG	7	5	0	2	147	101	46	1	0	21
BOSNIA H.	7	4	0	3	162	103	59	1	3	20
NORWAY	7	3	0	4	96	112	-16	0	3	15
GREECE	7	3	0	4	109	168	-59	0	1	13
FINLAND	6	2	0	4	92	122	-30	1	2	11

Still To Play
10.05.2014 Norway v Greece in Bergen
10.05.2014 Luxembourg v Finland in Luxembourg
31.05.2014 Finland v Bosnia Herzegovina in Finland