SLOVENIA v CYPRUS: World Cup Qualifying Europe R1 European Nations Cup Division 2C

08.12.2012

Venue: Paphiakos Stadium

Referee: Lionel Da Silva (Malta)

Preview
Slovenia were relegated from ENC 2B at the end of the 2010-12 competition. They were placed 4th out of five teams and were due to face Denmark (placed 2nd in ENC 2C) in a promotion-relegation playoff. Slovenia decided to forfeit that game and were thus relegated.

Slovenia won their first game in this division against Hungary at home. They will find Cyprus a handful away.

Cyprus has had an amazing journey since they played their first rugby test match. They have worked their way up through the divisions and now find themselves in ENC 2C. They began life in this division with a resounding 54-20 win over Austria

First Encounter.These two teams have never met in a rugby test match before.

Slovenia Last Five P 5, W 1, L 4
27.10.2012 v Hungary W 8-7 in Ljubliana (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2C)
14.04.2012 v Austria L 5-19 in Ljubliana (Friendly)
17.03.2012 v Switzerland L 0-85 in Nyon (ENC 2B)
12.11.2011 v Andorra L 6-15 in Ljubliana (ENC 2B)
29.10.2011 v Serbia L 0-52 in Belgrade (ENC 2B)

Cyprus Last Five P 5, W 5
17.11.2012 v Austria W 54-20 in Vienna (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2C)
26.05.2012 v Greece W 72-5 in Paphos (ENC 2D)
28.04.2012 v Bulgaria W 94-3 in Pernik (ENC 2D)
08.10.2011 v Luxembourg W 48-7 in Paphos (ENC 2D)
07.05.2011 v Luxembourg W 50-0 in Luxembourg (ENC 2D)

Cyprus has now won their last sixteen rugby test matches. They are edging closer to the world record of 18 consecutive rugby test match wins held by Lithuania.

GWC Rugby Rankings
Europe Table: Slovenia 29th, Cyprus 34th

IRB Ranking points do not apply. Cyprus is not on the IRB list

Prediction: Cyprus by 33 points.

TEAMS

Cyprus Squad

Jack Bilton

Andrew Binikos

Stavros Charalambous

Constantinos Constantinides

Billy Cosma

Dervis Devron

Fidias Efthymiou

Sam Emery

Dinu Floredan

Marcus Holden

Christo Kasabi

Matt King

Tom Loizides

Dimitri Maratheftis

Marko Mladenovic

Costas Pavlou

Jonathan Pettemerides

AJ Pugh

Frank Stavrou

Stylianos Theoklitou-Panagiotou

Chris Thoma

Tony Thoma (C)

Burhan Torgut

Slovenia Squad not available