EUROPEAN NATIONS CUP RUGBY TEST MATCH: Div. 1B

26.11.2011
Moldova v Czech Republic in Prague (ENC 1B)

Venue: Stadion Josefa Kohouta, Říčany

Referee: Barguanas (Romania)

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
POLAND	8	5	1	2	193	150	43	1	1	24
BELGIUM	6	5	0	1	178	88	90	2	1	23
MOLDOVA	6	4	1	1	132	108	24	2	0	20
CZECH R.	8	4	0	4	137	185	-47	1	1	18
GERMANY	7	2	0	5	140	158	-18	0	3	11
NETH.	7	0	0	7	91	183	-92	0	1	1

Preview
This is the last Division 1B match until February.

‘On the occasion of 85 years of the Czech Rugby (1926-2011), the famous squad lead by captain Eduard Krützner which on May 1968 in Prague lost to France with all their stars of that time only 6:19 (3:3 in the second half!) will be awarded.’ http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3955&p=44474#p44474 So this is indeed a special occasion for Czech Republic with a famous match to remember and a famous captain honoured.

The French Team on the day!

15	FB	Pierre Villepreux
14	W	Jean-Marie Bonal
13	C	Jean-Pierre Lux
12	C	Jo Maso
11	W	Andre Campaes
10	FH	Claude Lacaze
9	SH	Marcel Puget
1	P	Michel Lasserre
2	H	Michel Yachvili
3	P	Jean-Claude Noble
4	L	Alain Plantefol
5	L	Elie Cester
6	F	Jean Salut
7	F	Christian Carrere (c)
8	N8	Michel Greffe

Image thanks to www.scrum.com

So back to today’s game.

The Czech Republic has had a very chequered 2011 year at this level of test rugby. They reached a serious low with the heavy defeat to Belgium earlier in the month but recovered to win well against Netherlands last weekend.

Moldova has a much better record. They remain undefeated since March and drew with the rising Polish team two weeks ago. Compared with the Poles they have lost only the one match and although further down the points table, have two matches in hand.

Moldova has a better recent record against the Czech Republic but both games were home games. They lost their 2008 test v Czech Republic in Prague.

Previous Encounters
19.03.2011 Moldova 24-16 in Chisinau (ENC 1B)
14.11.2009 Moldova 45-30 in Chisinau (WCQ Europe R4; ENC 2A)
27.11.2008 Czech Republic 11-9 in Prague (WCQ Europe R4; ENC 2A)

Czech Republic Last Five
19.11.2011 v Netherlands W 22-10 in Prague (ENC 1B)
05.11.2011 v Belgium L 0-55 in Brussels (ENC 1B)
15.10.2011 v Poland L 13-20 in NowySacz (ENC 1B)
19.03.2011 v Moldova L 16-24 in Chisinau (ENC 1B)
12.03.2011 v Germany W 29-23 in Heidelberg (ENC 1B)

Moldova Last Five
12.11.2011 v Poland D 17-17 in Chisinau (ENC 1B)
30.04.2011 v Netherlands W 22-15 in Chisinau (ENC 1B)
02.04.2011 v Germany W 28-15 in Chisinau (ENC 2B)
19.03.2011 v Czech Republic W 24-16 in Chisinau (ENC 1B)
12.02.2011 v Belgium L 5-20 in Brussels (ENC 1B)

GWC Rugby Rankings
Europe Table-Moldova 13th, Czech Republic 16th

IRB Ranking Points
Moldova 53.75, Czech Republic 52.65

Prediction: Moldova by 4 points.

Teams

Czech Republic

1.Šuster Roman (C)
2.Kutil Ondřej
3.Indrák Pavel
4.Wognitsch Martin
5.Holovský Tomáš
6.Leroch Patrik
7.Nešpor Karel
8.Černý Jiří
9.Pailodze Vakhtang
10.Jirman Milan
11.Schlanger Michal
12.Okleštěk Petr
13.Jursík Václav
14.Jirman Michal
15.Rohlík Jan
16.Průša Michal
17.Macháček Lukáš
18.Hocke Pavel
19.Backa Radim
20. Havel Vojtěch
21 Schütz Zbyněk
22.Sulamanidze Ivane
http://www.rugbyunion.cz/na-moldavce-do-rican

Moldova team not available