TEST RUGBY THIS WEEKEND

11.04.2015
Paraguay v Uruguay in Montevideo (CONSUR A)
Czech Republic v Croatia in Croatia (REC 2A)
Greece v Estonia in Montenegro (REC 3, Semi-final 1)
Slovakia v Montenegro in Montenegro (REC 3, Semi-final 2)
Mexico v Cayman Islands in Grand Cayman (Caribbean Championship, North)
Guyana v Trinidad Tobago (Caribbean Championship, South)
St Lucia v Curacao in Castries (Caribbean Cup, South)

Briefly
CONSUR A 2015 competition begins with Paraguay travelling to Montevideo. This round is to find the qualifiers for the 2016 CONSUR Cup, the elite level of South American rugby.

Montenegro will become the latest member of the test rugby family when they host the REC Division 3 competition this weekend. The finals will be played next week mid-week.

The Caribbean Championship and Cup competitions continue. Mexico and Cayman Islands will be virtually playing for the North title, the winner facing the South winner. That will be either Guyana or Trinidad Tobago who also play this weekend. The surprise is the USA South is already out of the competition and will in fact have to face the Cup North winner in a promotion-relegation match later.

EUROPEAN NATIONS CUP: Divisions 2C and 2D

26.04.2014
Cyprus 46, Bulgaria 15 in Sofia (ENC 2C)
Luxembourg 52, Greece 8 in Thessalonika (ENC 2D)

Briefly
Cyprus continued its winning ways and extended their world record consecutive test wins to 22. Luxembourg’s big win places them at the top of ENC 2D table. Luxembourg are now the front contenders in what has been a very even competition up to now. They and Bosnia Herzegovina are the promotion candidates. Both play lowly Finland in their last two games and neither can afford to drop a bonus point in these games. All is set for an interesting end of play in this division

ENC 2C

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
CYPRUS	7	7	0	0	300	80	220	5	0	33
HUNGARY	7	5	0	2	186	77	109	2	2	24
SLOVENIA	7	3	0	4	101	182	-81	2	1	15
BULGARIA	8	2	0	6	116	342	-226	1	0	9
AUSTRIA	7	1	0	6	136	158	-22	1	3	8

Still To Play
03.05.2014 Austria v Slovenia in Vienna
17.05.2014 Cyprus v Hungary in Paphos

ENC 2D

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	TL
LUXEMBRG	7	5	0	2	147	101	46	1	0	21
BOSNIA H.	7	4	0	3	162	103	59	1	3	20
NORWAY	7	3	0	4	96	112	-16	0	3	15
GREECE	7	3	0	4	109	168	-59	0	1	13
FINLAND	6	2	0	4	92	122	-30	1	2	11

Still To Play
10.05.2014 Norway v Greece in Bergen
10.05.2014 Luxembourg v Finland in Luxembourg
31.05.2014 Finland v Bosnia Herzegovina in Finland

BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA v GREECE: ENC 2D

12.10.2013

Image thanks to ‘Quentin’ http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4382&sid=940b5f7f0309efecad0c058fe39077b1

Venue: Stadion Pod Borićima, Bihać

Referee: Csaba Priskin (Hungary)

Preview
This is the second rugby test match in this division today. Greece lost to Finland 20-35 two weeks ago away and will struggle again against a much improved Bosnian side.

‘Apparently all proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the restoration of a local hospital which burned down in a fire. There is no tradition of rugby in Bihać, so hopefully a good crowd will turn out to see what the sport is all about.’

‘There appears to be a lot promotion around the game as the federation are really trying to reach out to as many people as possible. Visit the www.zeragbi.blogspot.com to see some of the early picks.
Bihac is not traditionally a rugby city like Zenica is. There isn't a rugby club there so there is potential for growth there.’

Both quotes from http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4382&sid=940b5f7f0309efecad0c058fe39077b1

The last time these two teams met (17.11.2012) Greece won 22-17 in Thessalonika.

GWC Rugby Rankings
Europe Table: Bosnia Herzegovina 34th, Greece 36th

IRB Ranking Points
Bosnia Herzegovina 35.89, Greece 29.33

Prediction: Bosnia Herzegovina by 11 points.

TEAMS

Bosnia Herzegovina Squad

Emir Čerim
Alić Edib
Mirsad Fetić
Selmir Glavaš
Adnan Hamzić
Jason Hus
Damir Jovanović
Albin Kapić
Danijel Keserović
Krešimir Marković
Amir Mujić
Ermin Mušinović
Haris Oruč
Semir Pašić
Edin Pojskić
Fadil Spahić
Zeid Stanković
Sabahudin Subašić
Elvis Tuka
Sedad Tufekčić
Izić Vedran
Kenan Uzunović
Armin Zadić

Selektor: Safet Čerim

http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4382

Greece Squad not yet published

FINLAND v GREECE: ENC 2D

28.09.2013

Venue: Paavo Nurmi stadium, Turku

Referee: Michael Vestorp (Denmark)

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	TL
LUXEMBRG	4	3	0	1	74	62	12	0	4	12
NORWAY	4	2	0	2	65	48	17	1	1	10
BOSNIA H.	4	2	0	2	78	70	8	0	2	10
GREECE	4	2	0	2	61	64	-3	0	1	9
FINLAND	4	1	0	3	44	78	-34	0	2	6

Preview
These two teams are at the very bottom of the IRB Rankings are in the lowest division of European test rugby competition. This match will be a titanic struggle between two teams struggling at the bottom of the ENC 2D points table.

Finland is engaging in a very expansive international programme of rugby. They are also fielding an ‘A’ side against emerging nation Estonia as a curtain raiser for this game.

Finland is struggling near the bottom of ENC 2D. They need a vital home win to help keep relegation away.

Previous Encounters
30.03.2013 Finland 13-11 in Athens (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)
12.11.2011 Greece 16-6 in Athens (ENC 2D)
11.06.2011 Finland 11-7 in Helsinki (ENC 2D)
27.02.2010 Greece 31-10 in Patras (ENC 3C)
11.10.2008 Greece 12-10 in Helsinki (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 3C)

These two teams first met in 2006

Finland Last Five P 5, W 1, L 4
20.04.2013 v Bosnia Herzegovina L 15-19 in Sarajevo (WCQ Euro.R1; ENC 2D)30.03.2013 v Greece W 13-11 in Athens (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)
20.10.2012 v Norway L 3-32 in Oslo (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)
06.10.2012 v Luxembourg L 14-16 in Helsinki (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)
09.06.2012 v Cyprus L 5-52 in Helsinki (ENC 2D)

Greece Last Five P 5, W 1, L 4
20.04.2013 v Luxembourg L 7-20 in Luxembourg (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)13.04.2013 v Norway W 21-14 in Athens (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)
30.03.2013 v Finland L 11-13 in Athens (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)
26.05.2012 v Cyprus L 5-72 in Paphos (ENC 2D)
05.05.2012 v Luxembourg L 8-15 in Luxembourg (ENC 2D)

GWC Rugby Rankings
Europe Table: Greece 35th, Finland 38th

IRB Ranking Points
Greece 29.33, Finland 27.96

Prediction:Greece by 4 points

TEAMS

Finland Squad
Andras Devenyi
Kosti Eskola
Aaro Katainen
Fred Harrison
Janne Heinänen
Juha Rainvuori
Riku Ryynänen
Semu Salmivalli
Christian Skögholm
Olli-Pekka Tuomaala
Petri Virrankoski
Dawie van de Walt
Stephen Whittaker

Thomas Finell
Joakim Grader
Pyves Guiban
Antti Lammi
Mikko Luopio
Drew Myrie
Crispin Mäenpää
Lasse Sariola
Ilkka Tuomaala
Jussi Viljanen

http://rugby.fi/news/finland-greece-28-09-2013/

Greece squad not yet published

GREECE v LUXEMBOURG: World Cup Qualifier Europe R1; ENC 2D

Feature Match No. 4

20.04.2013

Venue: Stade Josy Barthel

Referee: Christian Doering (Denmark)

Preview

	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

The winner of this rugby test match will win the first leg of this ENC 2D round and qualify for the next stage of Rugby World Cup 2015 qualifying.

Norway’s loss to Greece last weekend virtually eliminated them from contention and also Bosnia Herzegovina and Finland are already eliminated on the basis they cannot catch Luxembourg or Greece.

Luxembourg’s loss to Bosnia Herzegovina demonstrated the evenness of this competition. They have the home advantage and defeated Norway at home late last year.

Greece is a bit of an unknown quantity. I have not been able to get any team list from the union. Their defeat of Norway at home threw this competition wide open although they have the disadvantage of playing away.

Previous Encounters
05.05.2012 Luxembourg 15-8 in Luxembourg (ENC 2D)
02.04.2011 Greece 30-18 in Athens (ENC 2D)
13.03.2010 Greece 17-9 in Athens (ENC 3C)
25.04.2009 Greece 17-14 in Luxembourg (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 3C)

Luxembourg Last Five P 5, W 4, L 1
13.04.2012 v Bosnia Herzegovina L 23-33 in Tesanj (WCQ Euro.R1; ENC 2D)
10.11.2012 v Norway W 15-8 in Luxembourg W 15-8 (WCQ Euro.R1; ENC 2D)
06.10.2012 v Finland W 16-14 in Helsinki (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)
05.05.2012 v Greece W 15-8 in Luxembourg (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)
21.04.2012 v Finland W 26-3 in Luxembourg (ENC 2D)

Greece Last Five P 5, W 2, L 3
13.04.2013 v Norway W 21-14 in Athens (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)
30.03.2013 v Finland L 11-13 in Athens (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 2D)
26.05.2012 v Cyprus L 5-72 in Paphos (ENC 2D)
05.05.2012 v Luxembourg L 8-15 in Luxembourg (ENC 2D)
12.11.2011 v Finland W 15-6 in Athens (ENC 2D)

GWC Rugby Rankings
Luxembourg 34th, Greece 35th

IRB Ranking Points
Luxembourg 33.65, Greece 29.63

Prediction: Luxembourg by 8 points

TEAMS

Luxembourg Squad

P Barnard (Rugby Club Luxembourg)

T Barnard (Rugby Club Luxembourg)

D Bessieres (Rugby Club Luxembourg)

B Cohen-Sabben (Unaffiliated)

J Da Col (Walferdange RC)

W Dennis (CSCE Rugby)

R Dex (Rugby Club Luxembourg)

M Garcia-Polak (Leeds Metropolitan University RFC, England)

V Giffard  (Annecy, France)

C Keane (Walcott RFC, England)

J Ketema (London Wasps Academy/Barnes RFC, England)

J Limpach (CSCE Rugby)

J Louw (Unaffiliated)

S Mckinlay (Rugby Club Luxembourg)

A Marcus (Belsize Park RFC, England)

C Narcisse (TYGRE, France)

S Rezapour (Waunarlwydd RFC, Wales)

C Rossa (CSCE Rugby)

N Sharplin (Rugby Club Luxembourg)

T Seite (Walferdange RC)

A Timmermans (Aix Université Club Rugby, France)

P Vimond (Rugby Club Luxembourg)

K Zimmer (Walferdange RC)

Adapted from http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4312

Greece squad unavailable

 

The other match in this division is..

Finland v Bosnia Herzegovina in Sarajevo

This is really a battle as to who finishes bottom of this division

Prediction: Bosnia Herzegovina by 35 points

ENC 2D World Cup Qualifying Europe R1

13.04.2013
Luxembourg v Bosnia Herzegovina in Tesanj
Norway v Greece in Athens

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	TL
NORWAY	3	2	0	1	51	27	24	1	1	10
LUXEMBRG	2	2	0	0	31	22	9	0	4	8
GREECE	2	1	0	1	33	30	3	0	1	5
FINLAND	3	1	0	2	30	59	-29	0	1	5
BOSNIA H.	2	0	0	2	26	33	-7	0	2	2

Briefly
All these are important games in this division which appears a fairly even contest. Bottom placed Finland defeated Greece away last week and dragged themselves off the bottom of the points table. So anything could happen.

Predictions
Bosnia Herzegovina by 5 v Luxembourg
Norway by 10 v Greece

TEAMS

Luxembourg

Forwards for Bosnia are, in no particular order,:

S. Rezapour - Swansea Uni and RCL

P Bernard - RCL

M. Garcia-Polak - No club

K. Zimmer- Walferdange,

C. Hoffmann - Trier ( Germany)

C. Narcisse- TYGRE (France)

J. da Col- Walferdange,

T. Seite- Walferange

T. Sacaze- No club

V. Giffard - France

J. Limpach - No club

N. Sharplin- RCL

J. Louw - No Club

 

Backs for Bosnia are, in no particular order,

W. Dennis- No club

D Bessieres - RCL

B. Cohen-Sabban - No Club

C Keane - No Club

Y Ketema - No Club

R. Dex - RCL

A. Timmermans - No Club

P. Vimond - RCL

T. Bernard - No Club

C Rossa - No Club

http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4303

 

‘The players with no club next to their names, only train and play international rugby or are from CSCE which does not have a senior section only juniors up to under 19s, but CSCE are very politically powerful on the Luxembourg Federation. Though CSCE almost entirely contributed all the players to the Lux under 18s which did well in a recent tournament beating Switzerland, though very few CSCE players ever play for the clubs in Luxembourg or the national team after the under 19s and disappear.

 

I have been informed the strategy is to cap as many young players as possible from CSCE in order to retain them for the national team and keep a number of older experienced player who no longer player any club rugby and are considered better than the current club players in Luxembourg.’

From ‘Rugbynut”

at http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4303

Norway

Norway squad from http://www.norgesrugby.no/national-team ... -vs-norway

 

Forwards 13

Kim Robin Pettersen - (ECB RK)

Even Ellingsen - (Blindern RK)

Erlend Meldalen - (Blindern RK)

Pascal Raclin - (Oslo RK)

Sondre Gundersen - (Southend RFC)

Joe Bula - (Gloppen RK)

Markus Sourlas - (Bergen RK)

Andreas Fyri - (Oslo RK (Captain ))

Michael Urbanski - (Bergen RK)

Nick Sæby - (Stavanger RK)

Axel Wilhelmsen - (Bergen RK )

Anthony Duchene - (Oslo RK)

Shelton Davis - (ECB RK)

 

Backs 10

 

Kristoffer Borsheim - (Stavanger RK)

Tommy Kjønniksen - (Fredrikstad RK)

Simen Hammer - (ECB RK)

Finn Gormley - (Corinthians RFC)

Rob Gannon - (Oslo RK)

Thierry Davy - (Blindern RK)

Sam Hedger - (Bergen RK)

Kristian Elgheim - (Nestle Rowntree RUFC)

Andre Slaatta - (Bergen RK)

Anders Teigland - (Trinity hall RFC)

All other team line ups unavailable