Delta from the Netherlands and the Romanian Wolves will meet in the Rugby Europe Super Cup Pool B first versus second final after wins at the weekend.
On Friday evening, Delta hosted the Bohemia Rugby Warriors from Czechia and although the latter put up a good fight in the National Rugby Center in Amsterdam, the home side came through 29-10.
Both teams had players yellow carded in the first 20 minutes and, with Delta back to 15 and the Warriors at 14, the home side took the lead.
It came thanks to a try from Bart Wierenga, the winger, which was converted by full-back Ilan Vaasen.
Adam Putna then got Warriors on the board with a penalty before Delta’s second try from hooker Tafadzwa Theodore Kahembe made it 12-3.
Maxim Aschenbrenner, the winger, scored a converted try to get Warriors back to 12-10 while Delta had another player in the sin bin and, after that, it was a two point game at the break.
Back to 15 men, Delta started the second period well and scored their third try in the 45th minute through winger Te Campbell with Vaasen converting.
Kahembe’s second try, converted by Vaasen, made it 26-10 four minutes later and the final points came right at the death when Delta stand-off Kai Van Kampen kicked a penalty to finish it at 29-10.
Lyn Jones, the Delta head coach, said: “It was tricky conditions out there for both teams in the wind and the rain and the opponents came at us hard, we were a bit flat, but we were just pleased to come away with the win.”
Antonin Brabec, the Warriors head coach, said: “Well done to Delta on their win, but I am very proud of the effort and the hard work my players put into this game.”
That win for Delta means they finish took of Pool B after the round robin phase with 14 points while the Warriors finish fourth on zero points.
In three weeks’ time Delta will face the Wolves because they finished second on 11 points while Warriors will be up against Belgian side Brussels Devils who finished third on five points.
They are on those points and in those places because, on Saturday at the Arcul de Triumf venue in Bucharest, the Wolves defeated the Devils 44-22.
The Wolves were just 18-15 up at half-time here, but then ‘won’ the second half 26-7 to make sure of a top two place.
The icing on the cake came for the victors when winger Corroado Romeo Stetco scored the final try with the clock past 80 minutes and in the red with replacement Alin Conache converting.
David Gerard, the Wolves head coach, said: “This was a very important victory for us, but it took us some time to get going because in the first half we made a lot of mistakes and gave away a number of penalties.”
The Devils captain Felipe Geraghty said: “We knew it was going to be a tough, physical battle and we coped with that well in the first half before the game started to get away from us.”
Meanwhile, also on Saturday, in the ongoing Pool A round robin phase, Black Lion made it three bonus point wins from three after a 47-21 triumph over Castilla Y Leon Iberians from Spain.
In the Avchala Rugby Stadium in Tbilisi, the Georgian hosts were 33-14 up at half-time and went on to complete the job.
Iberians sit third with Lusitanos in between the two teams who were playing with two matches in the section to go.
Luka Ivanishvili, captain of Black Lion, said: “This competition is great for us because it is helping us come together and grow as a squad before the European Challenge Cup which we play later in the season.”
The Iberians captain Ike Irusta Salles said: “We have improved game on game against good opponents and we will keep working hard before our last game that is to come.”
In international rugby, on Saturday in the men’s Rugby Europe Conference for 2024/25 Moldova defeated Türkiye 43-13 while, in the same competition the next day, Montenegro won 55-10 away to Kosovo.
By Gary Heatly
