Test Rugby: Slovenia v Austria

08.11.2008
Slovenia v Austria in Vienna (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 3B)

Preview
The Slovenians have taken ENC 3B by storm. Newly promoted from ENC 3C the Slovenians have already defeated Hungary 32-26 and Denmark 25-19. Not bad going for the new team on the block. And next we have the Austrians who have struggled to both score tries and win games. The experts tell me the Austrians have not scored a try in 5 games. I suspect the trouser dropping incident in Latvia earlier in the year has something to do with it. Even without four of their leading players from last week the Slovenians look to be on a roll. At least they'll score more tries than the Austrians!

Previous Encounters
05.10.2003 Austria 17-0 in Vienna (Friendly)
29.09.2001 Slovenia 24-16 in Vienna (FIRA Div.B, Pool A)
01.04.2000 Slovenia 24-12 in Vienna (FIRA Div. D1)
07.11.1998 Slovenia 25-9 in Ljubliana (FIRA Pool B)
06.06.1998 Austria 50-3 in ? (Friendly?)
These Neighbours played plenty of games against each other in the nineties and early 2000 but not so many lately due to Austria's rise since and Slovenia's drop.

GWC Rugby Rankings: Europe Table-Slovenia 28th, Austria 33rd.

Prediction: Slovenia by 12 points.

Teams

Slovenia
Damjan Ahačič (RK Ljubjana)
Žiga Burnik (RK Ljubjana)
Goran Djuratovič (RK Ljubjana)*
David Duh (RAK Olimpija)*
Peter Gobec (RK Ljubjana)
Simon Gombač (RK Bežigrad)
Goran Jelenčič (RK Bežigrad)
Damjan Jovič (?)
Peter Kavčič (RK Ljubjana)
Matej Kos (RK Ljubjana)
Aljaž Kralj (RK Ljubjana)
Luka Krajnc (RK Ljubjana)*
Žarko Krsmanovič (RK Ljubjana)
Urban Magušar (RAK Olimpija)
Luka Miklič (RAK Olimpija)
Grega Miljuš (RK Ljubjana)
Dejan Mrak (RK Ljubjana)
Luka Potnik (RAK Olimpija)
Lovro Sambol (RK Bežigrad)
Dejan Serafin (RK Ljubjana)
Anze Troppan (RK Ljubjana) *
Borut Završan (RAK Olimpija)
Head Coach:

Not selected/injured/unavailable from last weeks’ game
Tit Hočevar (Oxford Harlequins, England))
Klemen Slavec (RK Bežigrad)
Urban Volavšek (RK Ljubjana)
Damjan Volavšek (RK Ljubjana)
* Added to squad for this week

http://www.rugby-klub-ljubljana.si/index.php?show=novice&id=207

Austria
15 Marius Johannik
14 Max Navas
13 Yvan Wever
12 Thomas Österreicher
11 Nicola Bignotti
10 Jean Barthelemy Jilibert
9 Valentin Brandstetter
8 Ferdinand Richter
7 Ludwig Fegerl
6 Alexander Krauchenberg
5 Dieter Albert
4 Andreas Gaul
3 Max Müller
2 Milad Farkondeh-Fal
1 Alberto Gomez-Novak
Replacements
16 Wilfried Payer
17 Mani Deihimi
18 Thomas Fabi
19 Julian Zöchling
20 Muscheg Aslanyan
21 Michael Kerschbaumer
22 Paul Hruschka
Head Coach: Gael Mouysset
http://www.rugby-austria.at/content/deutsch/news/cfcf4129a1d69a6a9073.php

For complete lists of international rugby matches for Austria and Slovenia go to www.rugbyinternational.net