It has already been a calendar year packed full of great action in various Rugby Europe tournaments and this weekend excitement levels are high as the first ever Super Cup gets underway.
A mixture of eight professional and franchise clubs from across the continent will battle it out to become the champions and the first match to be played will see Dutch team Delta welcome the Brussels Devils from Belgium to Amersfoort.
The game kicks-off at 1.30pm UTC (3.30pm local) on Saturday and it promises to be an exciting one as Delta head coach Allard Jonkers said earlier this week: ““We would like Delta to be a very inventive team that dares to play rugby. We want to challenge our players to look for opportunities themselves out there on the pitch and solve problems on the run. Obviously, we will prepare well and analyse our opposition, but at the same time we want to give our players the freedom to express themselves and make their own smart decisions.”
So, the Devils will have to be ready for their opponents to run the ball from everywhere and their head coach Frederic Cocqu said: “For us at Belgium Rugby this competition has two main objectives: to get more people talking about rugby in Belgium and to demonstrate to all Belgian players that it is possible to participate at the highest level.
“The Devils will be looking to play a game of movement, we will be looking for open spaces coupled with an organised defence and an irreproachable discipline.”
The other match on Saturday sees Lusitanos from Portugal host Castilla y León Iberians from Spain in Lisbon.
Kick-off for this one is at 4pm UTC (5pm local) and with rugby in Portugal flourishing at the minute a spokesman for the hosts said: “We have been preparing for this match for about four weeks now. This is a very important competition for us, we have to thank all the support from the local clubs in our country, they have been very helpful.
“This is a very important competition for the individual development of all the players.”
Miguel Velasco is the head coach of the Spanish side and he said: “Castilla y León Iberians is a solid team. We enjoy playing at high pace and putting a lot of pressure on opposition teams with our attack, keeping the ball alive. Also, a solid defence is key.
“It has been great to see such a competitive bunch of players who normally confront on the field working together, learning their systems and helping each other in recent weeks in the build up to this game.”
Both of those Saturday games are in the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference gets underway on Sunday.
On that day Enisei-STM take on Lokomotiv Penza in a Russian derby which is likely to be hard fought from the very first whistle.
It kicks-off at 11am UTC (6pm local) and should be a cracking way to end an exciting first weekend in this competition.
Black Lion from Georgia and Tel-Aviv Heat from Israel are also in the Eastern Conference and they will join the action at a later date.
Watch all the games live on rugbyeurope.tv
View all the fixtures HERE
