Serbian National Championships and Cup 2008

[Druzik]

Fantastic Spider... Man I will get out to a Serbain game in Serbia one day... I am desperate to do it!

[Spider]

Serbian Cup started yesterday.

Quarterfinals (18th/19th October):
Podbara 122-4 Radnicki (Nova Pazova)
Red Star 80-10 Kolubara
Belgrade University XIII 28-20 Palilulac Hammers
Dorcol Spiders automatically qualified to Cup semifinals, based on National Championships 2008 regular season standings

Cup semifinals (25th/26th October):
Dorcol Spiders v Belgrade University XIII
Podbara v Red Star

Shield semifinals (25th/26th October):
Kolubara v Radnicki (Nova Pazova)
Palilulac Hammers qualified to Shield final, based on National Championships 2008 regular season standings

[Druzik]

There is a cup! Why you never mention this spider!

Excellent.

[Spider]

The Cup was played in first three years (2001, 2002 and 2003), but then we stopped because we had many touring sides in Serbia, and no much terms because we had RU competition running and a lot of players played the both codes.
This is the year when almost 100% senior (open age) players play just RL and junior players (U16s and younger, even not U18s) play sometimes RU because of low number of matches in their categories.

This year is full RL year and we had the Cup in plans at the beginning, but we didn't know right terms for that. Two new clubs joined the federation, Kolubara (Lazarevac) and Radnicki (Nova Pazova), and we were considering their involvement in the Cup. Some criticize us because we put them against Podbara and Red Star in the first round, but we thought that it's not important when they'll be "destroyed", first or second round. That's the great test if they really good target for investing or not, because we had in previous years one- or two-years lasting clubs without wish for prosperity in league. We are sick of these, we want just true workers and loyal partners in Serbian RL. If they don't have motives right now, we don't want them at all. No clubs in Serbia had the path of roses on their way, so the situation is clear.

[Druzik]

Your a tough task master spider

[Spider]

Serbian Cup - semifinals
25th Oct, Belgrade: Belgrade University XIII 12-52 Dorcol Spiders
26th Oct, Novi Sad: Podbara 56-10 Red Star

Shield semifinal Kolubara v Radnicki (Nova Pazova) is delayed a week and will be played next weekend. Serbian cup final will be played also next weekend.

[Druzik]

Oct 27, 2008 5:56:36 GMT 10 Spider said:

Serbian Cup - semifinals
25th Oct, Belgrade: Belgrade University XIII 12-52 Dorcol Spiders
26th Oct, Novi Sad: Podbara 56-10 Red Star

Shield semifinal Kolubara v Radnicki (Nova Pazova) is delayed a week and will be played next weekend. Serbian cup final will be played also next weekend.

NO real surprises there I guess. Two strongest clubs make the final.

[Spider]

Yes, top seeded teams reached the final pretty easily, but now the real battle starts. Dorcol Spiders will be there without their main star Soni Radovanovic, because he "earned" one match ban due to red card in semifinal. If I add that the match will be played in Novi Sad that means that we can expect good competitive Cup final, hopefully like championships match in Novi Sad (when Podbara led till the last ten minutes when Spiders scored two tries to win).

[Spider]

Serbian Cup - Final
Podbara 22, Dorcol Spiders 32
halftime: 16-12
Sunday, 2nd November 2008
Stadium: FK "Petrovaradin", Novi Sad
Referee: John Risman (Scotland)

PODBARA: D.Milosavljevic - Gvozdenovic, Medjugorac, Grbic, Ratkovic - Srbljanin, Kesegi - Knezevic, Marko Milosavljevic, Mario Milosavljevic - Orlic, R.Petrovic - Zebeljan
Interchange: Z.Petrovic, Jevtovic, Vratnjanin, Cifric
Head coach: Marko Zebeljan

tries: Grbic (25'), Zebeljan (32'), D.Milosavljevic (35', 64')
goals: D.Milosavljevic 2/2, Grbic 1/2

DORCOL SPIDERS: Dajc - Stevanovic, Unkovic, Milanko, Antic - Brkic, Granic - Tvrdisic, Susnjara, Kovacevic - F.Jankovic, Tomic - Nikolic
Interchange: Katanic, Radivojevic, Panovic, Vujosevic
Head coach: Marko Jankovic

tries: Antic (9'), Granic (13'), Milanko (42'), F.Jankovic (46'), Unkovic (51'), Brkic (77')
goals: Brkic 4/6, Granic 0/1

Score: 0-4 (13'), 0-10 (13'), 6-10 (25'), 10-10 (32'), 16-10 (35'), 16-12 (40'); 16-18 (42'), 16-24 (46'), 16-28 (51'), 22-28 (64'), 22-32 (77')

Photos and few comments to come this afternoon.

[Druzik]

wow a much closer game than the championships, good to see.

Spider, do you have any info on next years games yet, or any plans?

[Spider]

As I said and expected, this game was closer, because Podbara's team trained well since the grand final (which came just a week after Lebanon game and the main players were with the national team and Podbara didn't prepare good enough). Dorcol couldn't count on Radovanovic, their main star, and Novakovic, national team skipper, so I thought that the game could be better than previous. As you can see, the score went similar to England v PNG game, Spider led, then Podbara scored twice late in first half, but champions took the lead at the start of the second half, which kept till the end.

We don't know yet what format of competition will be used, because we have Serbian 9s Championships, hopefully next weekend, and Serbian Shield Final, Palilulac Hammers v Kolubara. Kolubara beat Radnicki (Nova Pazova) by 2 points and earned the spot in Shield final. After all this and long talks, I hope that we will have the right format for everyone. Personally, I would like a long season, with a lot of matches and the focus is also on youngsters and their competitions.

[Druzik]

what was the score in the Radnicki v kolubra game in the Plate semi?

[Spider]

It was 34-32 for Kolubara and they'll play v Palilulac Hammers in Nis in ten days (15th or 16th November).