TEST RUGBY RESULTS: Saturday 13 April

13.04.2013
Moldova 24, Poland 20 in Chisinau (WCQ Europe R4; ENC 1B)
Switzerland 37, Lithuania 21 in Nyon (WCQ Europe R3; ENC 2A)
Netherlands 48, Malta 10 in Amsterdam (WCQ Europe R3; ENC 2A)
Denmark 38, Serbia 0 in Odense (WCQ Europe R2; ENC 2B)
Bosnia Herzegovina 33, Luxembourg 23 in Tesanj (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)
Greece 21, Norway 14 in Athens (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)
USA South 42, Bahamas 15 in Nassau (NACRA Caribb.Champ.; North R1)
Cyprus A v Gibraltar in Paphos (Test friendly)

A summary

ENC 1B

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
GERMANY	5	4	0	1	191	89	102	4	0	20
MOLDOVA	5	3	0	2	119	136	-17	2	0	14
POLAND	4	3	0	1	84	52	32	0	1	13
UKRAINE	5	2	0	3	122	123	-1	2	1	11
SWEDEN	4	2	0	2	103	119	-16	1	0	9
CZECH REP.	5	0	0	5	56	157	-101	0	1	1

To Play-Poland v Sweden in Sweden. Has no effect on outcome. Germany wins this round.

Moldova gained a valuable home win against the previously undefeated Poles. They had a huge forwards advantage over the visitors whilst the Poles had the better backs. The Moldovans dominated the game but couldn’t progress through their backs.

ENC 2A

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
NETHERL.	3	3	0	0	96	33	63	1	0	13
SWITZ.	4	3	0	1	92	75	17	1	0	13
MALTA	4	1	0	3	74	104	-30	1	1	6
CROATIA	2	1	0	1	40	48	-8	0	0	4
LTHUANIA	3	0	0	3	54	95	-41	0	0	0

To Play-Netherlands v Croatia in Croatia and Croatia v Lithuania in Lithuania.

Switzerland outlasted the visiting Lithuanians after being down 19-20 at one stage. The Swiss have a mathematical chance of qualifying for RWC playoff.

Just up the road from Nyon the Netherlands scored a comprehensive win over visiting Malta. At 27-3 down Malta’s hopes of a revival were dashed with a yellow card.

‘Nils’ from http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4305&start=15   ‘So the Netherlands need just one point in Croatia and deny Croats bonus point win to qualify, Croats need to win (preferably with a bonus) and deny the Netherlands a bonus point and then win in Lithuania (with a bonus if failed to get one vs the Dutch), while Swiss have to pray hard that the 1) Netherlands get zero in Croatia and 2) Croats fail in Lithuania or at least win both their games without the bonus points.’

ENC 2B

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	TL
ISRAEL	3	3	0	0	91	42	49	2	0	14
LATVIA	4	2	0	2	85	82	3	2	0	10
DENMARK	3	1	1	1	59	33	26	1	0	7
ANDORRA	4	1	1	2	48	77	-29	0	0	6
SERBIA	4	1	0	3	84	133	-49	1	1	6

To Play-Denmark v Israel in Israel.

Denmark too strong for the visiting Serbs. This result will not affect the outcome of this division. Israel goes through.

ENC 2C

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
CYPRUS	3	3	0	0	182	38	144	3	0	15
BULGARIA	4	2	0	2	65	128	-65	1	0	12
HUNGARY	3	2	0	1	46	41	5	0	1	9
SLOVENIA	3	1	0	2	30	76	-46	1	0	5
AUSTRIA	3	0	0	3	37	77	-40	1	1	2

To play-Cyprus v Hungary in Hungary and Austria v Slovenia in Slovenia

No games this weekend but the above two fixtures will be played next weekend. Now that it is official that Cyprus cannot play in the RWC qualifying playoffs (they are not members of IRB) second place is crucial. Hungary is really the only team to challenge the Bulgarians

ENC 2D

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	TL
NORWAY	4	2	0	2	65	48	17	1	1	10
GREECE	3	2	0	1	54	44	10	0	1	9
LUXEMBRG	3	2	0	1	54	55	-1	0	4	8
BOSNIA H.	3	1	0	2	59	56	3	0	2	6
FINLAND	3	1	0	2	30	59	-29	0	1	5

To play-Greece v Luxembourg in Luxembourg and Finland v Bosnia Herzegovina in Bosnia Herzegovina

Upsets galore in this division this weekend. Norway lost their chance to cement their place at the top of the points table by losing away to Greece. Bosnia Herzegovina won at home to Luxembourg. This sets up the decider next weekend when Greece travels to Luxembourg to decide the RWC playoff team.

So the feature games next weekend in ENC will be..

Netherlands v Croatia in Zagreb (WCQ Europe R3; ENC 2A)
Greece v Luxembourg in Luxembourg (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)

PS The USA South defeated Bahamas away.