Georgia and Portugal will be competing for the 2026 Rugby Europe Championship title this coming Sunday after they both won their semi-finals at the weekend.
The Championship final will be one of four games being played in Madrid (at the Estadio Nacional Complutense and at Estadio Butarque in Leganés) as what has been a wonderful event culminates with a Super Sunday in Spain.
Defending champions Georgia made sure of their final place by getting the better of Romania at the Avchala Rugby Stadium in Tbilisi on Sunday.
This last four contest was poised at 15-9 at half-time before it burst into life with points all over the show as Georgia came out on top 53-30.
Tries for Georgia in the first half came from full-back Otar Metreveli and Akaki Tabutsadze while stand-off Tedo Abzhanandze kicked a penalty and a conversion.
Three penalties from Romania scrum-half Alin Conache kept Romania in touch.
In the second half, Romania suffered four yellow cards to Georgia’s one as ill-discipline as well as points started flowing.
Playing with men down for so long was always going to hurt them and Georgia scored tries via back-row Beka Saginadze, No.8 and player of the match Tornike Jalagonia, subs Luka Matkava and Mikheili Shioshvili and centre Tornike Kakhoidze with a penalty try also awarded and Abzhanandze kicked three more conversions.
Romania’s tries came from back-row Cristi Boboc (2) and winger Damian Bonaparte with the conversions shared around.
Georgia head coach Marco Bortolami said: “We are happy to be through to the final, but credit to Romania they fought right until the end.
“It was not a perfect performance and we have things to work on before the final.”
Later in the day on Sunday, Portugal took on Spain in the second Championship semi-final at the Estádio do Restelo in Lisbon and it was the home side who came through with a victory.
Portugal built up a 13-0 half-time lead and that was crucial in eventually seeing them over the line 26-7.
Centre Rodrigo Marta scored a try for Portugal in the first half with stand-off Domingos Cabral kicking eight points and then, in the 55th minute, a second Marta try which was converted made it 20-0.
Cabral’s third and fourth penalties of the day were then sandwiched between a consolation converted try for Spain by back-row Alex Saleta , but it was Portugal’s day and winger Manuel Vareiro was named player of the match.
Portugal head coach Simon Mannix said: “I thought the spirit of the team was exceptional in this game.
“There are always lessons to learn after every game and now we will work hard to get ready for the final.”
These two Championship semi-final results mean that Romania and Spain will be playing in the bronze final on Sunday.
And it will be Switzerland versus Belgium in the fifth placed final and Germany versus Netherlands in the seventh placed final after the first two mentioned won rankings semi-finals on Saturday.
Switzerland took on Germany at the Stade Municipal in Yverdon-les-Bains first up and the hosts won 35-25.
Like Romania the next day, Germany’s discipline let them down and they suffered a yellow card and a 20-minute red card in the first half.
Switzerland led 15-10 after 40 minutes and then went on to complete a very important win for them as their growth as a rugby nation continues.
The home side’s tries in the first period came from winger Cyril Fluckiger and back-row Johnatan Dallet with stand-off Jules Porcher kicking five points.
Germany’s try in the first half came from stand-off Leo Wolf with centre Bader-Werner Pretorius kicking a penalty and a conversion.
The visitors then hit back and led 25-21 with 14 minutes to go before the Swiss side scored two converted tries to secure victory.
Switzerland’s second half tries came from full-back Lucas Schmid and hooker Tom Nublat with Portcher nailing two conversions and two penalties.
Germany’s points in that period came from tries by back-row Oliver Stein and No.8 Iestyn Rees with Pretorius kicking a penalty and full-back Christopher Hennig a conversion.
Belgium against the Netherlands at the Province Naimette Arena in Liege was Saturday’s second rankings semi-final and, after leading 20-5 at the interval, Belgium came through the tie 38-15 despite suffering a red card after 37 minutes and a yellow card late on.
Their try scorers over the 80 minutes were stand-off Guillem Fernandez Grau (2), scrum-half Julien Berger and centre Florian Remue while the latter kicked 18 points too.
Netherlands, who themselves suffered one yellow card during the game, scored tries via scrum-half Maxime Van Hilst and sub Dirk Bruil with another sub, Bjorn Dolman, kicking five points.
The finals for Madrid next week are now confirmed as:
Estadio Nacional Complutense
- 7th Place Ranking Final: Germany v Netherlands 11am CET
- 5th Place Ranking Final: Switzerland v Belgium. 13:30pm CET
Estadio Butarque, Leganés
- Bronze Final: Romania v Spain, 4pm CET
- Final: Georgia v Portugal, 18:45pm CET
By Gary Heatly
Photos by Neil Dodd, Demetrashvili, Laurent Lefebvre, Beatriz Lima
