The day after Ireland completed a grand slam in Europes premier competition, Europes the second-tier competition finished up, in a round that saw a great deal of controversy in one game in particular.
Georgia 25 – 16 Romania
Georgia completed their own grand slam and picked up the Antim cup. Suso Matiashvili and Florin Vlaicu exchanged penalties early on, before Lasha Lomidze went over for the home side, Matiashvili converted. Vlaicu added another penalty late on in the half to cut the deficit.
Georgia got another try as soon s the second half began, Anzor Sichinava touched down, Matiashvili converted. Karlen Asieshvili got over lto secure the victory. Late on Romania got a try through Andei Rădoi, Vlaicu kicked the conversion. This is Georgias 10th title.
Belgium 18 – 10 Spain
Get ready for headlines involving the word ‘Romania/SpainGate’. A match that was surrounded in controversy sees Spain fail to qualify for the World Cup automatically.
As for the match itself, all of Belgiums points came from the boot of Vincent Hart, who kicked 6 penalties. Spain got a try late on through Fernando López Pérez, Mathieu Peluchon converted. Bradley Linklater missed two penalties.
The controversy comes from the fact that the referee and touch judges were from Romania. 18 Penalties were awarded against Spain, to Belgiums 7. After the match there was a verbal and physical confrontation between the players and the officials. Spain have made a formal request for the match to be replayed.
If this result stands, Spain now have to play Portugal in a play-off. The winner will advance to play Serbia, with the winner of that game qualifying for the World Cup, the loser will go into the repechage.
Germany 3 – 57 Russia
The one game that had nothing riding on it was far from a contest. Germanys lone score came from a Manuel Müller penalty. Russia got 9 tries. Anton Rudoy got a hattrick, Valery Tsnobiladze and Alexey Mikhaltsov got two each. They got further tries from Dmitri Krotov and Alexander Budychenko. Yuri Kushnarev kicked six conversions out of seven attempts, with Alexander Budychenko missing two.
Germany will play the winner of the Rugby Europe Trophy in a relegation/promotion play-off.
Tables
Rugby Europe Championship Table
Pos
|
Pts
|
PD +/-
| |
1
|
Georgia
|
24
|
+153
|
2
|
Romania
|
14
|
+118
|
3
|
Spain
|
13
|
+72
|
4
|
Russia
|
11
|
+58
|
5
|
Beglium
|
9
|
-76
|
6
|
Germany
|
0
|
-325
|
World Cup Qualifying Table
Pos
|
Pts
|
PD +/-
| |
1
|
Romania
|
29
|
+170
|
2
|
Spain
|
26
|
+132
|
3
|
Russia
|
20
|
+82
|
4
|
Belgium
|
11
|
-87
|
5
|
Germany
|
8
|
-287
|
Rugby Europe Trophy
Switzerland 30 – 24 Poland
Netherlands 27 – 10 Czech Republic
Table
Pos
|
Pld
|
Pts
|
PD +/-
| |
1
|
Netherlands
|
5
|
19
|
+89
|
2
|
Portugal
|
4
|
18
|
+90
|
3
|
Switzerland
|
5
|
10
|
-13
|
4
|
Czech Republic
|
4
|
8
|
-41
|
5
|
Poland
|
4
|
6
|
-39
|
6
|
Moldova
|
4
|
1
|
-86
|
Rugby Europe Conference 1 South
Bosnia and Herzegovina 20 – 17 Andorra
Israel 17 – 24 Malta
Table
Pos
|
Pts
|
PD +/-
| |
1
|
Malta
|
14
|
+87
|
2
|
Israel
|
10
|
+19
|
3
|
Croatia
|
4
|
-33
|
4
|
Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
4
|
-65
|
5
|
Andorra
|
2
|
-8
|
Ciarán Duffy (@TheVoiceDepth) is a Leinster supporter and self-proclaimed ‘big cheese’ of Post To Post (@PostToPostSport). He’ll write about anything rugby under the condition he gets to take it too seriously.
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