Rugby Europe’s seven season is in full swing now and at the weekend just gone Latvia’s men, Sweden’s women and Cyprus’ men won events.
In Zagreb in the first leg of the men’s Trophy for 2024, Latvia came out on top.
In the pool stage Romania won all three games to top Pool A, Sweden won three games to top Pool C and Pool B was topped by Hungary who won two and lost one.
The quarter-finals saw Sweden pushed all the way by Türkiye before getting through 21-19, Latvia, who had finished second to Sweden in Pool C, got past Switzerland 21-14, Luxembourg put in a cracking performance to defeat Romania 17-12 and Czechia were on fire to see off Hungary 38-0.
Sweden-Latvia in the first semi-final match was always shaping up to be a tight one and so it proved with the latter coming out as 7-5 winners.
And, after scoring 38 points in the last eight, Czechia were on fire again to see off Luxembourg 42-18 and make it to the final.
In the final, Latvia took the lead through a converted try by Davis Jansons.
Ivo Kapins then scored their second before Adam Miracky’s reply made it 14-7.
In the second half, Janson’s second try and a second from Kapins made it 28-7.
Czechia battled back, but it finished 28-19.
Sweden took bronze after a 33-5 win over Luxembourg while Switzerland were fifth, Romania sixth, Hungary seventh, Türkiye eighth, Poland ninth, Israel 10th, Moldova 11th and Monaco 12th in the 12-team event.
In the women’s Trophy event in Zagreb, Sweden and Gorgia both won their pools with three wins from three while Hungary topped Pool B with two wins from three.
Sweden showed they were going to be tough to beat with a 34-0 quarter-final triumph over Switzerland with Denmark then edging past Hungary 12-10.
Georgia beat Romania 21-0 and, to complete the semi-final line up, Latvia battled past Finland 17-7.
Having ‘nilled’ Switzerland in the previous round, Sweden continued on their merry way with a 27-0 triumph over Denmark in their semi-final.
Georgia were in similarly strong form, getting the better of Latvia to set up a cracking final.
Sweden were already 17-0 up in the final when Isabell Wijkstrom went over for their fourth try just before the interval. It was converted for 24-0.
In the end they won 31-7 with their second half try coming from Sara Jacobsson with a great finish. The Georgia consolation score came from Mariam Goguadze.
Denmark beat Latvia 19-12 to take bronze, Hungary were fifth, Finland sixth, Romania seventh, Switzerland eighth, Andorra ninth, Austria 10th, Israel 11th and Norway 12th in the 12-team tournament.
The second legs for both the men’s and women’s Trophy take place in Budapest, Hungary, on July 12th to 14th
In Bar, Montenegro, Cyprus men were the winners of the Rugby Europe Conference 2 standalone event and will be promoted in Conference 1 division for next season.
Estonia topped Pool A with three wins from three and Cyprus did the same in Pool B.
Slovakia managed to turn over Estonia 10-0 in the semi-finals of the eight-team event with Cyprus keeping the favourites tag with a 25-0 win over Slovenia.
In the final, Cyprus won 19-12, captain Marcus Holden lifting the trophy.
Slovenia finished third by getting past Estonia 14-12.
By Gary Heatly
Photos by Kobe & Travis Prior, Robert Pljuscec and Danilo Dado Pavlovic.
