INTERNATIONAL RUGBY: Luxembourg plays Greece

02.04.2011
Luxembourg v Greece in Athens (ENC 2D)

Venue: Egaleo, "Stavros Mavrothalassites"

Referee: Busitill (Malta)

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
CYPRUS	3	3	0	0	158	31	127	3	0	15
BULGARIA	3	2	0	1	51	85	-34	0	0	8
LUXEMB.	2	1	0	1	26	28	-2	0	1	5
FINLAND	2	0	0	2	20	88	-68	0	1	1
GREECE	2	0	0	2	35	58	-23	0	1	1

Points table from www.rugbyinternational.net

Preview
Both teams are in a delicate position on the points table prior to this clash in Athens. Greece are at the bottom of the table along with Finland and will be desperate to change their fortunes and win at home. Both teams lost to Bulgaria last November.

Putting together a consistent team appears to be the main problem for Greece. Katsakos is their ninth captain in their nineteen test matches to date. For this game some old hands reappear whilst player commitments to overseas-based clubs has meant a reshuffle after the loss to Cyprus.Greek confidence is low following their shock loss to Cyprus last November. A good win is needed here at home.

Luxembourg has a much shorter player base to choose from than Greece. There are only three clubs in this small Duchy between Belgium and Germany. Their result look more consistent than the Greeks but playing away is alwaysa disadvantage at this level of international test rugby.

 

Poster for this match http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3745

Previous Encounters
13.03.2010 Greece 17-9 in Athens (ENC 3C)
25.04.2009 Greece 17-14 in Luxembourg (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 3C)

Greece Last Five
20.11.2010 v Cyprus L 13-33 in Athens (ENC 2D)
06.11.2010 v Bulgaria L 22-25 in Pernik (ENC 2D)
24.04.2010 v Bulgaria L 15-18 in Pernik (ENC 3C)
17.04.2010 v Israel L 0-39 in Netanya (ENC 3C)
13.03.2010 v Luxembourg W 17-9 in Athens (ENC 3C)

Luxembourg Last Five
13.11.2010 v Bulgaria L 8-18 in Luxembourg (ENC 2D)
09.10.2010 v Finland  W 18-10 in Helsinki (ENC 2D)
13.03.2010 v Greece L 9-17 in Athens (ENC 3C)
07.11.2009 v Finland  W 9-3 in Luxembourg (ENC 3C)
24.10.2009 v Bulgaria L 12-25 in Pernik (ENC 3C)

GWC Rugby Ranking
Europe Table-Greece 36th, Luxembourg 37th

Prediction: Greece by 7 points

Teams

Greece Squad

Backs:
Michael Armetis (Dendermonde, Belgium)
Iason Dagdelenis (Tabard, England)
Chris Fiotakis (Monaco)
Theo Fotiou (Thessaloniki Lions)
Vassilis Katsakos, Capt. (Cergy-Pontoise, France)
Jinok Lee (Attica Springboks)
Mark Martin (Athens Rugby)
Ioannis Rizos (Thessaloniki Lions)
Argyris Saliarelis (University of West of England, England)
George Tsatsaronis (Athens Rugby)

Forwards
Antonis Demertis (Athens Spartans)
Timos Gigolashvili (Iraklis)*
Kostas Karandreas (Athens Rugby)
Dimitris Kasafraikis (Athens Rugby)
Dinos Kasparos (Pretoria University, South Africa)*
Nikos Mavreas (Athens Rugby)
Nick Penna (Box Hill Broncos, Australia)
Ioannis Papacostopoulos (Athens Spartans)
Billy Papadoupolous (Attica Springboks)
Statis Papadopoulous (Iraklis)
Philippos Sotiriadis (Athens Rugby)
One player to be added.

Head Coach: Niall Doherty

* New caps

Adapted from http://www.sportingreece.com/kb/article.asp?fIndex=5134

Luxembourg Squad
Christophe Balthazard (RC Luxembourg)
Damien Bessieres (RC Luxembourg)
Gilles Caviglia (?)
Julien da Col (RC Luxembourg)
Maxine Dozin (Nuremberg, Germany)
Alan Dunn (RC Luxembourg)
Bryan Fage (RC Walferdange)
Vincent Giffard (RC Luxembourg)
Stuart Kelly (RC Luxembourg)
Yared Ketema (CSCE Rugby)
Philippe Letalon (walferdange)
Scott Mckinlay (RC Luxembourg)
Adam Marcus (RC Luxembourg)
Michael Minehan (RC Luxembourg)
Zelito Neves dos Santos (walferdange)
Saman Rezapour (RC Luxembourg)
Nicolas Rivoallan (RC Luxembourg)
Timothee Seite (RC Walferdange)
Nigel Sharplin (RC Luxembourg)
Adrien Timmermans (?)
Philippe Vimond (RC Luxembourg)
Kim Zimmer (CSCE Rugby)
Head Coach:

Adapted from http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3745