RUGBY TEST MATCH: Netherlands v Poland

16.04.2011
Netherlands v Poland in Cracovie (ENC 1B)

Venue: Stadionie Hutnika

Referee: Stefano Marrama (Italy)

Image thanks to http://www.pzrugby.pl/reprezentacja/seniorzy/index.html

Preview

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
MOLDOVA	4	3	0	1	93	76	17	2	0	14
BELGIUM	4	3	0	1	93	70	23	0	1	13
CZECH R.	5	3	0	2	102	99	3	0	0	12
POLAND	4	2	0	2	90	94	-4	0	1	9
GERMANY	5	1	0	4	109	117	-8	0	3	7
NETH.	2	0	0	2	23	54	-31	0	0	0

Poland and the Netherlands are both languishing towards the back end of this points table. Poland are better placed in the middle of the table and have only a slight mathematical chance of actually leading at the end of the first round. The Netherlands would have to defeat both Belgium and Moldova in its last two matches and of course Poland would need to win today.

The competition has been very even at this level, one tier below Division 1A. At the end of next year the winner of round two will be promoted to ENC 1A.

Poland has the advantage over the Netherlands in that this is a home game plus they have performed better than the newly promoted Dutch side. The Poles have won their last two games, against competition leaders Belgium and Moldova and should account for the Dutch side.

The Netherlands is an outfit struggling for consistency from coach selection through to players. They have been on a rebuilding programme since 2008. The rebuild continues. It’s a tough ask for such a group of new players to take on Poland who are tough at home.

Polish side training mid-week. Image thanks toThomas Plenkowski at http://www.pzrugby.pl/reprezentacja/seniorzy/index.html

The Netherlands has dropped its first two games in their new division, losing to both Germany and Czech Republic. They haven’t played since November, another disadvantage, Poland having played one test match this year

Last Five Encounters
22.06.2006 Netherlands 22-20 in Amsterdam (WCQ Europe R3, Pool A)
25.04.2004 Netherlands 29-18 in Amsterdam (ENC 2A)
10.05.2003 Drawn 13-13 in Gdansk (ENC 2A)
26.10.1997 Netherlands 49-7 in Amsterdam (WCQ Europe Pool 1, Rnd B)
23.04.1995 Poland 28-12 in Amersfoort (FIRA A1)

Netherlands Last Five
27.11.2010 v Germany L 10-29 in Amsterdam (ENC 1B)
20.11.2010 v Czech Republic L 13-25 in Amsterdam (ENC 1B)
24.04.2010 v Croatia L 14-16 in Split (ENC 2B)
17.04.2010 v Malta W 19-0 in Amsterdam (ENC 2B)
19.12.2009 v Hong Kong W 25-10 in Amsterdam (Friendly)

Poland Last Five
12.03.2011 v Belgium W 28-21 in Gdansk (ENC 1B)
20.11.2010 v Germany W 22-17 in Frankfurt (ENC 1B)
13.11.2010 v Moldova L 25-36 in Gdansk (ENC 1B)
09.10.2010 v Czech Republic L 15-20 in Prague (ENC 1B)
24.04.2010 v Belgium L 8-29 in Brussels (WCQ Europe R4, ENC 2A)

GWC Rugby Rankings
European Table-Poland 12th, Netherlands 21st

IRB Ranking Points
Poland 52.57, Netherlands 48.63

Prediction: Poland by 26 points

Teams

Netherlands
15. Bart Viguurs (RC The Dukes)
14. Bas Cornelisse (RC 't Gooi)
13. Fedde Lingsma (RC Hilversum)
12. Richard van den Broek
11. Diede Breklemans
10. Leon Koenen (LRC DIOK)
9. Rik Roovers (RC Etten-Leur)
8. Jordi Bonhof (LRC DIOK)
7. Augustin Garello*
6. Tjebbe Jehee (LRC DIOK)
5. Patrick Brooijmans*
4. Maurice Stahlecker (RC Hilversum)
3. Robert Rhineholt (RC Hilversum)
2. Duncan Van Ham*
1. Allard Jonkers (RC 't Gooi)
Replacements
16. Bart-Jan Altink (RC Hilversum)
17. Catalin Buburuzan (RC The Dukes)
18. Jason Knox (RC 't Gooi)
19. Casper Boelens*
20. Timothy Schumacher (LRC DIOK)
21. Floris van der Ruit (URC)
22. Arko Hoondort

Head Coach: Silvester Ramaker

* Probable new caps.
Coach v Germany & Czech Republic was Jean Bidal, who had replaced Hugues Dispas.
New coach? Team manager, if same player, in at number 20 on the bench.

Team lineup based on team sheet provided by Jacqueline Reus, NRB.

Poland

1.Eric Piorkowski 2.Kamil Bobryk (kapitan) 3.Jean Boutes 4.Michał Krużycki 5.Merab Gabunia 6.Paweł Najdek 7.Mateusz Bartoszek 8.Kacper Ławski 9.Cedric Vaissiere 10.Dawid Popławski 11.Alexandre Beccuau 12.Tomasz Stępień 13.Wojciech Łukasiewicz 14.Krzysztof Hotowski 15.David Chartier.

Replacements
16.Grzegorz Janiec 17.Marcin Wilczuk 18.Tomasz Hebda 19.Stanisław Niedźwiecki 20.Rafał Szrejber 21.Konrad Jarosz 22.Łukasz Szostek.

http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3758

Watch The Game Live
http://www.polsatsport.pl/News,5827/Puchar_Narodow_Europy__Jupitery_Utrudnieniem,1167975/Rugby,133605/index.html