Brussels Devils gave their hopes of making the men’s Rugby Europe Super Cup semi-finals a boost after securing a first win of 2025/26 over the weekend. And Lusitanos from Portugal and Castilla Y Leon Iberians from Spain are now guaranteed to be in the final four in the new year - and are both on 20 points out of 20 so far - after victories of their own in round four.
The Devils from Belgium were in Amsterdam on Saturday to take on hosts Delta from the Netherlands and the visitors secured an impressive 38-17 triumph.
Before this one they had lost three from three, but they have now leapfrogged Delta into fourth place.
The Devils got off to a great start when their skipper, the No.8 Felipe Geraghty, went over for an unconverted try.
It then got even better for them after 14 minutes when his fellow back-row Flor Van Den Bussche went over for try number two with stand-off Guillem Fernandez Grau converting to make it 12-0.
Then, in the lead up to half-time, the Devils had a man in the sin bin and Delta scored an unconverted try via back-row Tom Boggemann to give them hope and make it 12-5 at half-time.
After the break, the Devils started well and they bagged their third try thanks to forward power. They were awarded a seven-point penalty try and it was 19-5.
By the 55th minute and with a man in the bin for the Delta, the Devils lead was stretched to 26-5 when winger Miguel Fachada finished superbly well and Fernandez Grau converted.
They were on a roll now and try number five came eight minutes later when, after a neat team move, winger Mathieu Hautier went over for a five-pointer.
That made it 31-5 and then Van Den Bussche’s second try, converted by Fernandez Grau, made it 38-5.
Late on Delta scored two tries through No.8 Jack Slob and winger Bjorn Dolman, with one converted, but the evening belonged to the Devils as it finished 38-17.
© Rugby-shots.nl
Earlier on Saturday at the in the Arcul de Triumf stadium in Bucharest, second placed Lusitanos made sure of their semi-final spot with a 35-7 away win against sixth-placed Romanian Wolves whose semi-final hopes have now gone.
After a first half in which both teams had players yellow carded, Lusitanos led 14-0 after centre Martim Faro and back-row Andre Cunha bagged converted tries.
Full-back Tomas Marques, second-row Luis Moreira and replacement José Monteiro scored further tries after the break with the Wolves getting a late consolation try via sub Stefan Rares Mirzac.
© Razvan Pasarica/Sport Pictures
The weekend of round four action had begun on Friday when Iberians defeated third placed Bohemia Warriors from Czechia 52-3 at the Estadio Nueva Balastera in Palencia.
Second-row Jose Ramon Borraz Hernandez set the tone by going over for a try after just 100 seconds and, amazingly, Iberians ran in seven tries and kicked six conversions in total in the first 40 minutes to lead 47-3 at the break. Tristan Horak, the full-back, kicked a penalty for the shellshocked Warriors.
After such a barnstorming first half, Iberians scored just one try in a 5-0 second period, replacement Jorge Garreta Ballenilla the scorer, but the damage had already been done as they came through as 52-3 winners.
All of that means that, heading into the final weekend of regular season action in round five which all happens this coming Saturday, the Warriors (nine points), the Devils (five points) and Delta (four points) are battling it out for the last two remaining semi-final spots.
The Warriors and Delta meet while the Devils host the Wolves and unbeaten sides Lusitanos and Iberians clash.
By Gary Heatly
