The group stage is over and now the knock-out action begins in the men’s Rugby Europe Championship this weekend.
In the first Cup semi-final, 13th in the world Georgia are hosting 20th in the rankings Romania in the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi on Saturday at 4pm local time (12pm UTC).
This is a repeat of last year’s last four clash when Georgia won 31-7.
They will be big favourites again here, but both sides have new coaching influences and have moved on since Rugby World Cup 2023, so it’ll be a fascinating encounter.
Georgia head coach Richard Cockerill will no doubt have his charges fired up while David Gérard, Romania's head coach, said: “It's a semi-final and if we respect ourselves and what we did in the last six weeks together, we'll have to go on the pitch and give our maximum.
“It is not about victory or defeat, it's not just about the result, it's about what we're going to show on the pitch. Things are not easy, we know, but we deserve to finish well in this tournament because it hasn’t been an easy one.
“Twenty-two players are absent, we're not trying to find excuses, we'll just do our best with the squad we have at the moment.
“I hope the boys will give everything and have no regrets at the end of this semi-final.”
The second match on Saturday is the first rankings semi-final between Netherlands and Poland.
The National Rugby Center in Amsterdam is the venue for this one at 4.15pm local time (3.15pm UTC) and it is 28 in the world versus 33.
Given home advantage and the fact they won a game in the group stage and Poland didn’t, Netherlands will start as favourites here.
“We were delighted with the nature of our game management two weeks ago against a very good German side” Netherlands head coach Lyn Jones said.
“Uncomfortable weather conditions made it challenging for both sides, but we still delivered a standard and there were many positives.
“A much-improved Poland side will be asking many tough questions of us this Saturday in Amsterdam. For us, delivering consistency is our performance indicator - that’s what I expect and demand from the players selected.”
Kacper Palamarczuk, the Poland player, said: “The atmosphere before the match against the Netherlands is calm. We know what we have to do and we understand the situation we are in.
“As players we need to react accordingly. We all support each other and we are one team, things look really good in my opinion and we believe it they will only get better.
“The key to winning this game will be to use the opportunities we create. We need to play wider than in the previous games and look for the gaps in the defence while set piece and mauls will also be an important part of this game. We will do our best to win this encounter.”
Belgium-Germany in the other rankings semi-final is the third match on Saturday.
The Stade du Pachy in Waterloo will be the venue under lights with the home side starting as favourites given they won two matches in the group stage and only just missed out on the Cup semi-finals.
It is at 7pm local time (6pm UTC) and Belgium are 26th in the world with Germany 32nd.
Visiting head coach Mark Kuhlmann said: “The game against Belgium is the first of two finals for us. It will be very difficult in Belgium. They're a good opponent who beat Portugal and only just missed out on the top four.”
Sunday sees one match being played and it is the second Cup semi-final.
It is Portugal against Spain and, at the same stage of the competition last year, Portugal won 27-10.
This clash is in the Estadio do Restelo in Lisbon at 3pm local time (3pm UTC) and pits two old rivals who are 15th and 19th in the world together.
“Portugal versus Spain is always a special game and as players value this a lot not only because of all the history that exists between Portuguese and Spanish rugby but also because of the entire history of Portugal,” home captain Tomas Appleton said.
Pablo Bouza, the Spain head coach, said: “We are looking forward to playing this match, we are playing against a team who were at a World Cup just a few months ago, so for us it’ll be a big challenge.
“We will have to improve from the way we played in the second half last time out against Georgia and we have talked a lot about this in training.”
On March 17, the Rugby Europe Championship Finals will be held at the Stade Jean Bouin in Paris, the home of Stade Français Professional Team.
All the teams will be involved in a real festival of rugby and this weekend’s results will determine who plays who there.
Where to Watch :
GEO v ROU
- GEO : Imedi & Rugby TV
- GER : Joyn and Ran.de
- Rest of the world : rugbyeurope.TV
NED v POL:
- NED : Ziggo Sport
- GER : Joyn and Ran.de
- Rest of the world : rugbyeurope.TV
POR v ESP :
- POR : Sport TV
- ESP : Movistar +
- GER : Joyn and Ran.de
- Rest of the world : RugbyPassTV & rugbyeurope.TV
BEL v GER :
- GER : Pro Sieben MAXX
- Rest of the world : rugbyeurope.TV
By Gary Heatly
