The fifth edition of the Rugby Europe Super Cup got underway at the weekend with Iberians, Delta and Lusitanos all victorious in their respective matches.
Spanish side Castilla Y Leon Iberians were given the honour of hosting the first men’s Rugby Europe Super Cup game of the campaign on Friday night and they impressed, defeating Belgian outfit Brussels Devils 66-20 with a bonus point to sit top of the six-team standings after week one.
On Saturday, Lusitanos of Portugal notched up a bonus point win of their own as they beat Bohemia Warriors from Czechia 42-21.
They are second in the standings while Delta from the Netherlands are third after they won 40-17 away to Romanian Wolves that same day.
In any competition or game you want to get off to a fast start and Iberians certainly did that in the Estadio Nueva Balastera in Palencia on Friday.
They scored the first try of this year’s Super Cup after just three minutes when winger Pau Aira Rebollo went over versus the Brussels Devils and that set the tone for the match.
By half-time the home side were 38-6 up - two penalties from full-back Mattheo Van Holsbeke the only scores the Devils had to show for a tough 40 minutes - and Iberians continued to attack in the second period.
In the end it finished 66-20 with Iberians outscoring their visitors by 10 tries to two with replacement Nicolas Infer Arias’ try just before the hour mark the one to take them past 50
The spectacular setting of the Arcul de Triumf stadium in Bucharest was the venue for Saturday’s first game and, like Iberians had done the evening before, Delta struck early via a penalty by full-back Ilan Vaasen.
The hosts Romanian Wolves hit back in the 10th minute thanks to a try by back-row Alexander Dinu and the game was very much in the balance at half-time with Delta leading just 18-12.
In the second period the visitors managed to up their levels and won that half 22-5 to give them a 40-17 triumph overall. It was 28-17 until the last 12 minutes when Delta then scored two quickfire tries via Vaasen and winger Bjorn Dolman to clinch things.
The CAR Jamor stadium in Lisbon was then the venue for Saturday’s second game and the final match of the first weekend.
Lusitanos, the hosts, started this one against Bohemia Warriors as favourites, but in the first half the visitors gave as good as they got and it was 14-14 at the interval.
Indeed, the Warriors were 14-12 up after a converted try by centre Jindrich Kulhavy in the 24th minute until they were hit by a yellow card eight minutes later. The man advantage allowed Lusitanos to level things up through a converted try from winger Alfredo Almeida.
With it back to 15 versus 15, a converted try by centre Guilherme Vasconcelos put Lusitanos 21-14 up after 45 minutes and gave them the momentum they needed to then go on and complete a 42-21 victory.
This coming weekend there are three games on Saturday in round two of action with Delta hosting Iberians, Romanian Wolves taking on Bohemia Warriors and Lusitanos travelling to Belgium to play Brussels Devils.
• In international rugby at weekend, in the men’s Rugby Europe Conference Slovenia held on to defeat Hungary on Saturday 38-35 after an end-to-end contest.
Slovenia have now won one and lost one in Pool B while Hungary have lost two from two, but fought right to the end in this game.
By Gary Heatly
