IRB NATIONS CUP 2014 Day 1

13.06.2014
Emerging Ireland v Russia in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)
Romania v Uruguay in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)

There should not be any surprises on day 1 of this IRB sponsored tournament. I guess the only complaint is that we see the same old nations fronting up for this tournament. It is designed to give match time to 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifying teams from Tier 2 nations, which this does.

Predictions
Emerging Ireland by 30 v Russia
Romania by 10 v Uruguay

Squads

Emerging Ireland Squad for IRB Nations Cup

PROPS
Rodney Ah You (Connacht)
Michael Bent (Leinster - 3 caps)
Callum Black (Ulster)
John Ryan (Munster)
James Tracy (Leinster)

HOOKERS
Niall Annett (Ulster)
Bryan Byrne (Clontarf)

LOCKS
Robin Copeland (Cardiff Blues)
David Foley (Munster)
Mick Kearney (Connacht)

BACKROW
Paddy Butler (Munster)
Sean Dougall (Munster)
Mike McCarthy (Leinster - 16 caps)
Tommy O'Donnell (Munster - 4 caps)
Dominic Ryan (Leinster)

SCRUMHALVES
Paul Marshall (Ulster - 3 caps)
Luke McGrath (Leinster)

FLYHALVES
JJ Hanrahan (Munster)
Ian Keatley (Munster - 2 caps)

CENTRES
Eoin Griffin (Connacht)
Brendan Macken (Leinster)
Noel Reid (Leinster)

WINGERS
Michael Allen (Ulster)
Craig Gilroy (Ulster - 6 caps)

FULLBACKS
Andrew Conway (Munster)
Johne Murphy (Munster - 2 caps)

http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4527&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30

Romania
1. Constantin Pristavita (Baia Mare)
2. Otar Turashvili (Farul Constanta)
3. Horatiu Pungea (Scarlets)
4. Valentin Poparlan (RCM Timisoara)
5. Marius Sarbe (Tarbes)
6. Viorel Lucaci (Steaua)
7. Mihai Macovei (Massy) - captain
8. Daniel Carpo (RCM Timisoara)
9. Florin Surugiu (CSM Bucuresti)
10. Filip Lazar (St. Jean D'Angely)
11. Florin Ionita (Steaua)
12. Florin Vlaicu (Farul Constanta)
13. Csaba Gal (Baia Mare)
14. Ionut Dumitru (Steaua)
15. Gabriel Conache (RCM Timisoara)
16. Eugen Capatana (RCM Timisoara)
17. Alex Tarus (RCM Timisoara
18. Dorin Lazar (RCM Timisoara)
19. Vlad Nistor (Castres)
20. Robert Dascalu (Steaua)
21. Valentin Ivan (CSM Bucuresti)
22. Daniel Statulescu (CSM Bucuresti)

http://t2rugby.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=125

Uruguay
1. Alejo Corral
2. Nicolas Klappenbach (Captain)
3. Juan Echeverria
4. Cristofer Soares de Lima
5. Franco Lamanna
6. Juan de Freitas
7. Diego Magno
8. Alejandro Nieto
9. Guillermo Lijenstein
10. Alejo Duran
11. Gaston Gibernau
12. Alberto Roman
13. Joaquin Prada
14. Santiago Gibernau
15. Gaston Mieres
16. Carlos Arboleya
17. Mateo Sanguinetti
18. Mathias Braun
19. Fernando Bascou
20. Agustin Alonso
21. Jeronimo Etcheverry
22. Federico Favaro

http://t2rugby.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=125

Russia
1. Alexey Volkov
2. Stanislav Selsky
3. Sergey Sekisov
4. Alexander Voytov (Captain)
5. Denis Antonov
6. Andrey Garbuzov
7. Andrey Temnov
8. Viktor Gresev
9. Alexander Yanyushkin
10. Ramil Gaysin
11. Igor Galinovskiy
12. Alexey Makovetskiy
13. Herman Davydov
14. Mikhail Babaev
15. Igor Klyuchnikov
16. Valery Tsnobiladze
17. Grigory Tsnobiladze
18. Alexander Bezverkhov
19. Artem Fatakhov
20. Pavel Butenko
21. Alexey Shcherban
22. Sergey Yanyushkin

IRB NATIONS CUP 2013: Emerging Italy Squad

Emerging Italy squad:
James AMBROSINI (Benetton Treviso)
Andrea BACCHETTI (Vea-FemiCZ Rovigo, 2 caps)
Nicola BELARDO (Zebre Rugby)
Alberto BENETTIN (Zebre Rugby, 1 cap)
Giulio BISEGNI (Mantovani Lazio)
Emiliano CAFFINI (Zebre Rugby)
Guido CALABRESE (Vea-FemiCZ Rovigo)
Carlo CANNA (Fiamme Oro Rugby)
Alessandro CASTAGNOLI (Rugby Reggio)
Pietro CECCARELLI (Stade Rochelais)
Leandro CEDARO (Stade Rochelais)
Dario CHISTOLINI (Gloucester Rugby)
Saverio COLABIANCHI (Mantovani Lazio)
Federico CONFORTI (Petrarca Padova)
Tommaso D’APICE (Gloucester Rugby, 10 caps)
Andrea DE MARCHI (Zebre Rugby)
Filippo FERRARINI (Zebre Rugby)
Marco FUSER (Benetton Treviso, 1 cap)
Ornel GEGA (Petrarca Padova)
Giovanni MAISTRI (Benetton Treviso)
Andrea MENNITI-IPPOLITO (Petrarca Padova)
Francesco MENON (Vea-FemiCZ Rovigo)
Alex MORSELLINO (Petrarca Padova)
Andrea PRATICHETTI (Benetton Treviso, 1 cap)
Nicola QUAGLIO (Vea-FemiCZ Rovigo)
Jean-Marcelin RORATO (M-Three San Donà)
Enrico TARGA (Petrarca Padova)
Alessandro TARTAGLIA (Mantovani Lazio)
Ruggero TREVISAN (Zebre Rugby)
Michael VAN VUREN (Zebre Rugby)

http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4327

IRB NATIONS CUP TEST RUGBY: Results Day 2

12.06.2012
Romania 23, Argentina ‘A’ 21
Emerging Italy 28, Portugal 21
Russia 19, Uruguay 13

Briefly
Romania and Emerging Italy set up Sunday’s fixtures in the final round as a must win situation to take the IRB Nations Cup. Both teams are undefeated and so, as it works out, their match is the final.

Romania started well and held on to a victory after a second half come back by the Jaguars. Romanian flyhalf Daniel Manole was the Romanian player stand-out and looks a player for the future.

Emerging Italy held off a determined Portuguese side to win 28-21 whilst Russia completed the days play by defeating Uruguay 19-13.

Fixtures for Sunday’s final round
Romania v Italy ‘A’
Russia v Argentina ‘A’
Portugal v Uruguay

IRB NATIONS CUP RUGBY TEST MATCH: Argentina Jaguars face hosts Romania

12.06.2012
Argentina ‘A’ v Romania in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)

Venue: Arch of Triumph Stadium

Referee:

Preview
This could well be the deciding match of this tournament. Both teams are undefeated and both teams won their round one matches comfortably.

Previous Encounters
19.06.2011 Argentina ‘A’ 37-13 in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)
13.06.2010 Romania 24-8 in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)

Argentina Jaguars defeated Portugal 41-9 last Wednesday

Romania Last Five
08.06.2012 v Uruguay W 29-9 in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)
31.05.2012 v Ukraine W 71-0 in Bucharest (ENC 1A)
17.03.2012 v Spain L 12-13 in Madrid (ENC 1A)
10.03.2012 v Georgia L 13-19 in Bucharest (ENC 1A)
25.02.2012 v Russia W 25-0 in Sochi (ENC 1A)

GWC Rugby Rankings and IRB Ranking points do not apply

Prediction: Romania by 3 points

ARGENTINA ‘A’ (Jaguars)

15		Ramiro Moyano	Lynx RC
14		Franco Sábato	Asociación Alumni
13		Lisandro Lopez Gomez	La Tablada RC
12		Juan Pablo Socino	Unattached
11		Matias Masera	Belgrano Athletic
10		Benjamin Madero (Capt.)	San Isidro Club
9		Marco Bollini	Club Newman
8		Nicholas Azzorin	Liceo Naval RC
7		Ignacio Pasman	Club Champagnat
6		Javier Ortega Desio	San Isidro Club
5		Lucas Ponce	CUBA
4		Felipe Aranguren	Club University Buenos Aires
3		Nicholas Basile	Aurillac, France
2		Martin Garcia Veiga	Buenos Aires C & R
1		Francisco Piccinini	San Isidro Club
16		Roberto Tejerizo	Tucumán Lawn Tennis RC
17		Matias Cortese	Córdoba Athletic RC
18		Lisandro Ahualli de Chazal	Academic RC
19		Martin Chiappesoni	Atlético del Rosario
20		Santiago Mendez	San Isidro Club
21		Santiago González Iglesias	Asociación Alumni
22		Fernando Luna	Córdoba Athletic RC
		HEAD COACH: Daniel Hourcade

Romanian team yet to be announced

IRB NATIONS INTERNATIONAL RUGBY TOURNAMENT: Uruguay to face Russians

12.06.2012
Uruguay v Russia in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)

Venue: Arch of Triumph Stadium

Referee:

Preview
Both teams arrived in Bucharest with a number of new players in their squads. This is nothing unusual for this tournament. Uruguay had to leave eight top players at home.“I would have liked to have them here,” said head-coach Pablo Lemoine, “but they had jobs to go back to after the South American championship and we had to bring some of the aspiring players to Bucharest. That was visible against Romania and will definitely hamper our progress. For teams like ours every match is important and we cannot afford to relax.”

Russian coach Kingsley Jones is in the same position.

IRB Ranking points will apply to this test match. Both teams will be giving all to win this important clash.

Previous Encounters
19.06.2010 Russia 38-19 in Harrison (Churchill Cup, 5th-6th Playoff)
21.06.2009 Russia 29-26 in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)
20.06.2008 Uruguay 23-19 in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)

Uruguay Last Five
08.06.2012 v Romania L 9-29 in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)
6.05.2012 v Brazil W 27-15 in Santiago (CONSUR A)
23.05.2012 v Chile W 27-26 in Santiago (CONSUR A)
20.05.2012 v Argentina L 5-40 in Santiago (CONSUR A)
19.11.2011 v Spain L 13-16 in Madrid (Friendly)

Russia Last Five
08.06.2012 v Italy XV L 17-33 in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)
19.05.2012 v Spain W 41-37 in Moscow (ENC 1A)
17.03.2012 v Georgia L 0-46 in Tblissi (ENC 1A)
10.03.2012 v Ukraine W 38-19 in Sotchi (ENC 1A)
25.02.2012 v Romania L 0-25 in Sochi (ENC 1A)

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-Russia 21st, Uruguay 22nd

IRB Ranking Points
Russia 61.07, Uruguay 60.95

Prediction: Uruguay to bounce back and win by 3 points

RUSSIA

 

15		Andrey Otrokov	Krasny Yar
14		Ivan Kotov	Yug-Krasnodar
13		Sergey Trishin	VVA-Podmoskovje
12		Alexander Makovetsky	Krasny Yar
11		Mikhail Babaev	VVA-Podmoskovye
10		Sergey Sugrobov	Slava Moscow
9		Alexander Shakirov	VVA-Podmoskovye
8		Victor Gresev	London Wasps, England
7		Artem Fatahkov	VVA-Podmoskovye
6		Andrey Temnov	Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk
5		Adam Byrnes	Melbourne Rebels, Australia
4		Denis Antonov (Capt.)	Slava Moscow
3		Innokenty Zykov	Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk
2		Valeriy Tsnobiladze	Novokuznetsk
1		Alexey Volkov	VVA-Podmoskovye
16		Stanislav Sel'sky	Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk
17		Sergey Popov	Slava Moscow
18		Evgeny Pronenko	Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk
19		Alexander Voytov	VVA-Podmoskovye
20		Alexey Scherban	Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk
21		Paul Kvernadze	Spartak GM
22		Anton Ryabov	Krasny Yar
		HEAD COACH: Kingsley Jones

Uruguay team yet to be announced

IRB NATIONS CUP TEST RUGBY: Portugal Face Italy Emerging

12.06.2012
Portugal v Emerging Italy in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)

Venue: Arch of Triumph Stadium

Referee:

Preview
Even taking into account a number of top players were missing, Portugal would have been very disappointed with their display last Wednesday against Argentina ‘A’.

The young and inexperienced Italian side surprised punters by winning against Russia. They lead the points table. However they have lost two players, di Marchi to injury and Tartaglia, who has been called into the Italian side at the Junior Rugby World Cup being held in South Africa.

Portugal are known for their unexpected upsets. Can they pull one out of the bag today?

Portugal and Emerging Italy have never met before in a 15’s test match.

Portugal Last Five
08.06.2012 v Argentina ‘A’ L 9-41 in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)
17.03.2012 v Ukraine L 33-35 in Odessa (ENC 1A)
10.03.2012 v Spain W 23-17 in Lisbon (ENC 1A)
25.02.2012 v Georgia L 7-22 in Tblisi (ENC 1A)
11.02.2012 v Russia L 32-33 in Lisbon (ENC 1A)

GWC Rugby Rankings and IRB Ranking points do not apply

Prediction: Portugal by 7 points

The teams selected for today are as yet unavailable but the squads are listed below for interest.

ARGENTINA ‘A’ (Jaguars)

1	Lisandro Ahualli de Chazal	Universitario	Tucumán
2	Felipe Aranguren	CUBA	URBA
3	Nicolás Azorin	Liceo Naval	URBA
4	Nicolás Basile	Aurillac	FFR
5	Marcos Bollini	Club Newman	URBA
6	Martín Chiappesoni	Atlético del Rosario	URBA
7	Gastón Cortés	Córdoba Athletic	Cordobesa
8	Matías Cortese	Libre	Libre
9	Jerónimo De la Fuente	Duendes RC	Rosario
10	César Fruttero	Jockey Club de Villa María	Cordobesa
11	Martín García Veiga	Buenos Aires C&RC	URBA
12	Lisandro Gómez López	La Tablada	Cordobesa
13	Santiago González Iglesias	Asociación Alumni	URBA
14	Fernando Luna	Córdoba Athletic	Cordobesa
15	Benjamín Madero	San Isidro Club	URBA
16	Matías Masera	Belgrano Athletic	URBA
17	Santiago Méndez	San Isidro Club	URBA
18	Ramiro Moyano	Lince RC	Tucumán
19	Javier Ortega Desio	San Isidro Club	URBA
20	Ignacio Pasman	Club Champagnat	URBA
21	Francisco Piccinini	San Isidro Club	URBA
22	Lucas Ponce	CUBA	URBA
23	Javier Rojas	Universitario	Tucumán
24	Franco Sábato	Asociación Alumni	URBA
25	Juan Pablo Socino	Libre	Libre
26	Roberto Tejerizo	Tucumán Lawn Tennis	Tucumán

PORTUGAL

PROPS
CRISTIAN SPACHUK (Bourgoin - FR)
THOMAS DA COSTA (Lourdes - FR)
JORGE SEGURADO (Direito)
ANTHONY ALVES (Montauban - FR)

HOOKERS
JOÃO CORREIA (Direito)
VASCO MARQUES (CDUP)

LOCKS
EDUARDO ACOSTA (Direito)
ERIC DOS SANTOS (Stade Montois - FR)
GONÇALO UVA (Direito)

BACKROW
JOÃO PAIVA (Agronomia)
VASCO UVA (Direito)
FRANCISCO SOUSA (Cascais)
JACQUES LE ROUX (Agronomia)
TIAGO GIRÃO (Tiago Girão)

SH
FRANCISCO P. MAGALHÃES (CDUL)
MANUEL RAPOSO (Pretoria Police - South Africa)

FH
YANNICK RICARDO (Castanet - FR)
MANUEL COSTA (Belenenses)

CENTERS
CARL MURRAY (CDUL)
JOSÉ LIMA (Agronomia)
FRANCISCO APPLETON (CDUL)

WINGS
BERNARDO CAMPELO (Agronomia)
ANTÓNIO AGUILAR (Direito)
GONÇALO FORO (CDUL)

FULLBACKS
NUNO PENHA E COSTA (CDUL)
PEDRO LEAL (Nice - FR)