Rugby Europe International Championships

Rugby Europe International Championships

Current season, competition or edition: 2018–19 Rugby Europe International Championships
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	1936 (predecessors) 2016 (current format)
No. of teams	See below
Continent	Europe
Most recent champion(s)	Georgia
Most titles	France (25), Georgia (10), Romania (10)

The Rugby Europe International Championships is the European Championship for tier 2 and tier 3 rugby union nations.

The tournament is split into 5 levels, each with 5 or 6 teams. Its highest level is now called the Rugby Europe Championship and, unofficially, referred to as the Six Nations B. All levels play on a one-year cycle, replacing the old format of a two-year cycle, with the teams playing each other both home and away. From September 2016, there will still be an annual champion, however a format change means each year sees teams promoted and relegated between the levels.

History

The First International Championships 1936-2000

Following the expulsion of France from the Five Nations Tournament in 1931, they join with Italy, Romania, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Netherlands, and Catalonia to create the International Amateur Rugby Federation (FIRA) as an alternative to the International Rugby Football Board (now World Rugby). Three tournaments are held from 1936-1938 with France winning all three. Following the Second World war, France is readmitted to the Five Nations Championship but they also compete in the only two tournaments organised by FIRA now renamed the Rugby Union European Cup, held in 1952 and 1954. In both years France are champions. From 1965 Fira try to revitalise the European competition by creating the FIRA Nations Cup (1965-1973) and then the FIRA Trophy (1973-1997), however, the tournament is no longer disputed with France fielding a France A side made up mostly of university students. While the French students win many of the tournaments, Romania also have their share of tournament titles. In the late 1990s, the championship becomes irregular with some editions not taking place because of qualifications for the World Cup. A new tournament titled the European Nations Cup begins in 2000, however, France and Italy no longer participate as they now play in the reformed Six Nations Championship. A new format is introduced in 2001 consisting of the league played over two years and national teams divided into several divisions with a system of promotion and relegation.

European Nations Cup: initial format (since 2000)

2018-19 Rugby Europe International Championships

Key
	Six Nations
	Championship
	Trophy
	Conference 1 North
	Conference 1 South
	Conference 2 North
	Conference 2 South
	Development
	Others

After the setup of the divisional system in 2000, Romania won the first competition with maximum points, The initial season also included Morocco.

Russia then replaced Morocco in 2001 when Georgia secured the title and were crowned champions after a 31–20 win over Romania in Bucharest. As the competition format changed from a one-year tournament to two-years, the Netherlands were not relegated after this season.

Romania started 2002 trailing Georgia after the 2001 results, but managed to win all of the remaining five games, including a 31–23 victory in Tbilisi.

Portugal were 16–15 winners over Romania in Lisbon and installed themselves at the top of the 2003–04 table. In the second half of the competition, Romania won 36–6 against Portugal in Constanța, but went down 24–33 to Russia in Krasnodar. Then Portugal clinched their first title with a last-minute 19–18 home win over Russia. The Russia – Czech Republic game was rescheduled due to bad weather and was eventually cancelled.

The 2005–06 championships also served as a qualifying pool for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Romania triumphed finishing level on points with Georgia, while Ukraine were relegated after losing all matches.

The 2007–08 edition saw the return of the Spanish to the top division. The winners were Georgia, following their display at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The Russians recorded their best ever placement, finishing in second. The Czech Republic were the team to finish on the bottom of the table, losing all of their matches, relegating them back to Division 2A.

A new format was decided at the beginning of 2009. Each calendar year had its own champion, but the cumulated ranking over two years determined which team was relegated. The 2009–10 edition was also basis for European qualification to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The 2009 season saw the début of Germany in the top division, Georgia defended their title, and there were wins for Portugal and Russia in Bucharest.

Faced with the possibility of missing a Rugby World Cup for the first time, Romania were managed the 2010 title. This feat was however not enough to overtake Georgia and Russia, who helped by their good results from the previous year, gained the automatic qualification for the 2011 RWC, leaving Romania to go through the Play-Off Qualification Rounds. Germany were relegated after failing to win any games.

Georgia won the 2011 edition, after beating Romania 18–11 in Tbilisi. The promoted team, Ukraine, lost all but one of their matches, single win over Portugal.

European Nations Cup: second format (from 2010 to 2016)

For the 2010–2012 competition (and promotion and relegation between groups going forward to successive competitions), the top two divisions (previously 1 and 2A) were redefined as 1A and 1B, both having six teams (previously six and five). The next four levels (previously 2B, 3A, 3B and 3C) become 2A-2D, under the new system, with the remnants of Division 3D making up the initial group of teams labelled as Division 3. In principle, each division is to encompass a different type of competition.

In Division 1, groups have six teams (meaning more matches and thus more travel), a significant fraction of the players are assumed to be professional or semi-professional (meaning that fixtures are, as often as possible, scheduled within the IRB's international fixtures time windows when clubs must release players for national duty), and only one team is promoted and one relegated every two years (meaning that the competitions are more stable).

In Division 2, groups have only five teams each (usually meaning one home match and one away match in the Autumn, and the same in the Spring, for each team), it is assumed that the majority of players are amateurs (meaning scheduling is not as limited), and in addition to the traditional automatic first-promoted-last-relegated system, fourth place from the higher pool will play second place from the lower pool after every two-year competition, with the winner taking the position in the higher pool. From a five-team group, one team is promoted, one team is relegated and two teams play in playoffs. Thus, a maximum of four of a pool's five teams could change from one two-year competition to the next.

In Division 3, a single-location, short-time-period (one week or 10 days) tournament is organised once per year. This minimises travel costs for teams and time-off-work requirements for players, and allows the flexibility of having a different membership every year, rather than requiring the membership to be constant over two years. The best performing team over two years of tournaments is promoted to Division 2.

In the year of transition to the new system (2010), there were no relegations from any division below the highest, because the second-highest (old 2A, new 1B) was expanded by one team.

International Championships: new format (from 2016)

From September 2016, the European Nations Cup became the Rugby Europe International Championships, made up of five levels or divisions:

• Level 1 - Championship. The top six ranked European teams outside the Six Nations contest the annual title. Replaces the former Division 1A.
• Level 2 - Trophy. The next six ranked European teams bid for the Trophy title. Replaces the former Division 1B.
• Level 3 - Conference 1. Division 2, A through D, becomes the new Conference level, where twenty teams are separated into two Conferences made up of ten teams each, based on their previous year rankings. Each conference is then split into two, North and South, where teams could change each year depending on the competing teams - nations closest to boundary moved from North to South and vice versa each season as necessary to geographically balance the conferences.
• Level 4 - Conference 2
• Level 5 - Development. Replaces Division 3.

A promotion and relegation play-off system is maintained across all levels every year, moving away from the two-year system in place since 2003, meaning teams will be promoted and relegated every year.

Current divisions and standings (2018–2019)

Note: Standings and divisions not yet final. The relegation play-off between Romania and Portugal is not decided yet.

Key

*	Champion of the 2017–18 season
↑	Team promoted from the division below after the 2017–18 season
•	Division champion but team not promoted after the 2017–18 season
‡	Last place of division but team not relegated after the 2017–18 season
↓	Team relegated from the division above after the 2017–18 season

Championship Pl W Pts Georgia * 0 0 0 Russia 0 0 0 Germany 0 0 0 Belgium 0 0 0 Spain 0 0 0 Romania ‡ 0 0 0	Trophy Pl W Pts Portugal • 0 0 0 Netherlands 0 0 0 Czech Republic 0 0 0 Switzerland 0 0 0 Poland 0 0 0 Lithuania ↑ 0 0 0
Conference 1 North Pl W Pts Moldova ↓ 0 0 0 Ukraine 0 0 0 Sweden 0 0 0 Hungary 0 0 0 Luxembourg ↑ 0 0 0	Conference 1 South Pl W Pts Malta • 0 0 0 Croatia 0 0 0 Israel 0 0 0 Bosnia and Herzegovina 0 0 0 Cyprus ↑ 0 0 0	Conference 2 North Pl W Pts Latvia ↓ 0 0 0 Denmark 0 0 0 Finland 0 0 0 Norway 0 0 0 Austria 0 0 0	Conference 2 South Pl W Pts Andorra ↓ 0 0 0 Serbia 0 0 0 Slovenia 0 0 0 Slovakia ‡ 0 0 0 Bulgaria ↑ 0 0 0
Development Pl W Pts Estonia ↓ 0 0 0 Turkey 0 0 0 Montenegro 0 0 0

Updated through June 11th 2018

Predecessor tournaments

FIRA Tournaments (1936–1938)

Year	Host city	Winner	Second place	Third place
1936	Berlin	France	Germany	Italy
1937	Paris	France	Italy	Germany
1938	Bucharest	France	Germany	Romania

Rugby Union European Cup (1952–1954)

Year	Winner	Second place	Third place
1952	France	Italy	West Germany
1954	France	Italy	Spain

FIRA Nations Cup (1965–1973)

Year	Winner	Second place	Third place
1965–1966	France	Italy	Romania
1966–1967	France	Romania	Italy
1967–1968	France	Romania	Czechoslovakia
1968–1969	Romania	France	Czechoslovakia
1969–1970	France	Romania	Italy
1970–1971	France	Romania	Morocco
1971–1972	France	Romania	Morocco
1972–1973	France	Romania	Spain

FIRA Trophy (1973–1997)

Year	Winner	Second place	Third place
1973–1974	France	Romania	Spain
1974–1975	Romania	France	Italy
1975–1976	France	Italy	Romania
1976–1977	Romania	France	Italy
1977–1978	France	Romania	Spain
1978–1979	France	Romania	Soviet Union
1979–1980	France	Romania	Italy
1980–1981	Romania	France	Soviet Union
1981–1982	France	Italy	Romania
1982–1983	Romania	Italy	Soviet Union
1983–1984	France	Romania	Italy
1984–1985	France	Soviet Union	Italy
1985–1987	France	Soviet Union	Romania
1987–1989	France	Soviet Union	Romania
1989–1990	France	Soviet Union	Romania
1990–1992	France	Italy	Romania
1992–1994	France	Italy	Romania
1995–1997	Italy	France	Romania

European Nations Cup (2000–2016)

Year		First Division					Lower Division Champions
		Winner	Second	Third	Relegated		Trophy	Division 2
2000		Romania	Georgia	Morocco			Russia	Czech Republic
2001		Georgia	Romania	Russia			Poland	Not played
2001–2002		Romania	Georgia	Russia	Netherlands		Czech Republic	Slovenia
2003–2004		Portugal	Romania	Georgia	Spain		Ukraine	Moldova
2004–2006		Romania	Georgia	Portugal	Ukraine		Spain	Latvia
2006–2008		Georgia	Russia	Romania	Czech Republic		Germany	Sweden
2008–2010		Georgia	Russia	Portugal	Germany		Ukraine	Lithuania
2010		Romania	Georgia	Russia
2011		Georgia	Romania	Portugal	Ukraine		Belgium	Sweden
2012		Georgia	Spain	Romania
2013		Georgia	Romania	Russia	Belgium		Germany	Netherlands
2014		Georgia	Romania	Russia
2015		Georgia	Romania	Spain	Portugal		Belgium	Estonia
2016		Georgia	Romania	Russia

Rugby Europe International Championships (since 2016)

Year	Championship				Trophy		Conference		Development
	Winner	Second	Third	Relegated	Winner	Relegated	Winner	Relegated	Winner
2016–17	Romania	Georgia	Spain	—	Portugal	Ukraine	Czech Republic	Turkey	Slovakia
2017–18	Georgia	Russia	Germany		Portugal	Moldova	Lithuania	Estonia	Bulgaria
2018–19

Statistics

Including events since 2000.

All-time table

	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	AVPPG	Pts	Champs
Georgia	95	78	4	13	2934	1117	+ 1817	30.71	311	10
Romania	95	69	2	24	2894	1225	+ 1657	29.98	273	5
Russia	84	47	3	34	2190	1788	+ 402	26.07	186	0
Portugal	85	35	3	47	1605	1865	- 260	18.88	152	1
Spain	80	25	4	51	1575	2020	− 445	19.69	145	0
Czech Republic	29	6	0	23	362	1075	− 713	12.48	40	0
Germany	25	3	1	21	341	1064	− 723	13.64	26	0
Netherlands	15	1	0	14	278	652	− 374	18.53	17	0
Ukraine	20	1	0	19	201	998	− 797	10.05	15	0
Morocco	5	3	0	2	94	69	+ 25	18.80	11	0
Belgium	20	2	1	17	204	412	− 208	13.6	8	0

ENC champions

Performance by team

Nation	Winner	Runner-up	Third Place
Georgia	10	5	1
Romania	5	7	2
Portugal	1	0	3
Russia	0	3	6
Spain	0	1	1
Germany	0	0	1
Morocco	0	0	1

Records (since 2000)

Division 1A

Titles

• Most titles: 10 – Georgia (2001, 2007–2008, 2008–2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018)
• Most consecutive titles: 6 – Georgia (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)

Top division apperarances

• 18 (joint record) – Georgia (2000–present), Romania (2000–present)

Wins

• most wins overall: 78 – Georgia
• most home wins overall: 42 – Georgia
• most away wins overall: 36 – Georgia
• most consecutive wins overall: 23 – Georgia (16 March 2013 – 19 March 2017)
• most consecutive home wins: 27 – Georgia (14 February 2009 – present)
• most consecutive away wins: 14 – Georgia (16 March 2013 – 19 March 2017)

Draws

• most draws overall: 4 (joint record) – Georgia, Spain

Losses

• most losses overall: 49 – Spain

Points

• most points scored in a season: 389 – Romania (10 games – 2005–2006 ) 198 Romania (5 games – 2018 )
• fewest points conceded in a season: 80 – Georgia (10 games – 2008–2009 ) 33 Georgia (5 games – 2016)
• most points conceded in a season: 556 – Ukraine (10 games – 2005–2006) 359 Germany (5 games – 2018 )
• fewest points scored in a season: 58 – Germany (10 games – 2008–2009 ) 34 Germany(5 games – 2018 )
• most points scored in a match: 101 – (Georgia 98–3 Czech Republic 7 April 2007)
• most points scored in a match by one team 98 Georgia (Georgia 98–3 Czech Republic 7 April 2007)
• biggest winning margin: 97 – Romania (Romania 97–0 Ukraine 19 March 2005)
• most points scored by losing team: 38 (joint record) – Spain, Romania; matches (Spain 38–40 Czech Republic, 30 March 2003, Germany 41–38 Romania, 11 February 2017)
• biggest draw: 21 (joint record) – (Russia v Romania 27 February 2010, Belgium v Spain 9 February 2013)
• fewest points scored in a match: 12 (joint record) – Portugal v Morocco 19 March 2000, Spain v Georgia, 22 February 2004, Georgia v Russia, 6 March 2004)
• fewest points scored by winning team: 8 (Romania 8–7 Georgia, 19 March 2017)

Games without a loss

• Longest unbeaten run: 29 – Georgia (25 February 2012 – 19 March 2017)
• Most consecutive games without a loss home: 34 – Georgia (14 February 2004 – present)
• Most consecutive games without a loss away: 14 – Georgia (11 February 2012 – 19 March 2017)

Games without a win

• 17, joint record – Ukraine (20 November 2004 – 17 March 2012), Germany (15 November 2009 – 27 February 2016)

Other trophies

Several other trophies are contested within the main competition, mostly as long-standing fixtures between pairs of teams.

• Viriato Cup: Portugal versus Spain. The most recent Viriato Cup match was a draw, meaning Spain retained the trophy (2013)
• Trophy of the Two Iberias: Georgia versus Spain. The most recent Trophy of the Two Iberias match was won by Georgia (2018)
• Treasure of Lipovens: Romania versus Russia. The most recent Treasure of Lipovens match was won by Romania (2018)
• Antim Cup: Romania versus Georgia. The most recent Antim Cup match was won by Georgia (2018)
• Moscow Gold: Russia versus Spain. The most recent Moscow Gold match was won by Spain (2018)
• Coltan Cup: Portugal versus Belgium. The most recent Coltan Cup match was won by Portugal (2013)
• Trajan's Column: Spain versus Romania. The most recent Trajan's Column match was won by Spain (2018)
• Suebi Bowl: Germany versus Portugal. The most recent Suebi Bowl match was won by Portugal (2010)

See also

• Rugby World Cup
• History of rugby union matches between Georgia and Romania
• Six Nations Championship
• Rugby Europe (formerly FIRA–AER)
• Sevens Grand Prix Series

External links

• Rugby Europe website