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Post by Spider on Aug 2, 2008 18:51:22 GMT 10
U18s European Nation Cup will be held this September in Beroun (Czech Republic). Eight teams will participate: France, England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Serbia, Czech Republic and European Celts. I don't know why Russians won't be there, however it is going to be good tournament. The full schedule of the U18s ENC can be found here (seems it's the only place in world, where that can be found). |
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Post by Spider on Sept 7, 2008 22:40:43 GMT 10
1st September - Preliminaries:
England 52-6 Scotland
Ireland 66-12 Serbia
Wales 62-0 Czech Republic
3rd September -
Cup Semi-finals:
Wales 38-22 England
France 40- 34 Ireland
Shield Semi-finals:
Serbia 38-32 Euro Celts
Scotland 30-0 Czech Republic
5th September:
7th/8th Place Play-off: Czech Republic 26-22 Euro Celts
5th/6th Place Play-off (Shield Final): Scotland 42-38 Serbia (32-32 regular, 38-38 after extra-time, 42-38 after golden point extra-time)
3rd/4th place Play-off: England 34-6 Ireland
Euro Nations Cup Final: Wales 38-24 France
Final standings:
1. Wales
2. France
3. England
4. Ireland
5. Scotland
6. Serbia
7. Czech Republic
8. Euro Celts
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Post by Druzik on Sept 8, 2008 16:20:30 GMT 10
Was it a good tournament spider? How did the Czechs run things?
How did the Serbian boys perform, does the future look real good for Serbia?
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Post by Marv on Sept 8, 2008 17:17:09 GMT 10
well done to wales, hopefully some of those kids can make the step up to Aademy RL and ulimatly SL
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Post by Spider on Sept 8, 2008 22:51:23 GMT 10
The standard of play was OK, maybe even better than two years ago in Perpignan, when U19s played ENC.
Welsh team was consisted of players playing the both codes, elite RU and probably target of Celtic Crusaders, and some boys from North who were in Serbia last year playing for Euro Celts U16s.
French were unexpectedly small-sized, but performed very good, quick legs, brave (sometimes looked like kamikaze) and very disciplined (which is new comparing with for example last season U16s).
England sent their Colleges side, so it was not the strongest U18s (which would put a hundred on everyone).
Ireland was practically England C side, I think just one Irish was in squad.
Scotland v Serbia games in junior competitions become classics. After U19s 2-point win in Perpignan, Scots won it again in dying minutes, first equalizing in regular time, than again in the first extra-time and than scoring a golden point (try) in second extra-time.
Czechs were improving during the competition, but they are far behind all other national teams in this tournament.
Euro Celts, not being the true national team, were consisted of 7 Russian boys, 3 Scottish over-aged players and the other nations players who couldn't enter 17-men squads.
Organization of the tournament need to be much better off the field. I suppose that not big number of people was involved in organizing the event. Andy Fairhurst, development officer in Czech Republic, did it almost alone, and it resulted with several gaps comparing with previous two Euro Nations Cups (U19 & U16).
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Post by Spider on Oct 8, 2008 6:56:51 GMT 10
This is the video clip is from some Czech news. The matches shown are Serbia v Scotland (2 Serbian tries) and Czech Republic v Euro Celts (2 tries of each team with decider in last minuute).
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