Rugby Europe International Championships

Rugby Europe International Championships

Current season, competition or edition: 2016–17 Rugby Europe International Championships
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	2016
No. of teams	See below
Continent	Europe
Most recent champion(s)	Georgia
Most titles	France (25),  Georgia (9),  Romania (9)

The Rugby Europe International Championships, – sometimes referred to as the Six Nations B or Rugby Europe Championship – is the European Championship for tier 2 and tier 3 rugby union nations.

The tournament is split into 5 levels, each with 5 or 6 teams. All Levels play on a one-year cycle, replacing the old format of a two-year cycle, with the teams playing each other both home and away. As of September 2016, each year, like previously, there will be a annual champion, however in a format change each year will see teams promoted and relegated between levels.

History

2016-17 Rugby Europe International Championships

Key
	Six Nations
	Championship
	Trophy
	Conference 1 North
	Conference 1 South
	Conference 2 North
	Conference 2 South
	Development
	Others

After the setup of the divisional system in 2000, Romania won the first competition with maximum of points, with the initial season also including Morocco.

Russia then replaced Morocco in 2001 when Georgia secured the title and were crowned after a 31–20 win over Romania in Bucharest. As the competition format changed from a one-year tournament to two-years, the Netherlands were not relegated after this season.

Romania started 2002 trailing Georgia after the 2001 results, but managed to win all of the remaining five games, including a 31–23 victory in Tbilisi.

Portugal were 16–15 winners over Romania in Lisbon and installed themselves at the top of the 2003–04 table. In the second half of the competition, Romania beat 36–6 against Portugal in Constanța, but went down 24–33 to Russia in Krasnodar. Then Portugal clinched their first title with a last-minute 19–18 home win over Russia. The Russia – Czech Republic game was rescheduled due to bad weather and was eventually cancelled.

The 2005–06 championships also served as a qualifying pool for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Romania triumphed even though they finished level on points with Georgia, while Ukraine was relegated after losing all matches.

The 2007–08 edition saw the return of the Spanish to the top Division. The winners were Georgia, after their display at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The Russians recorded their highest ever finish in second. The Czech Republic were the team to finish on the bottom of the table, losing all of their matches, relegating them back to Division 2A.

A new format change was decided at the beginning of 2009. Each calendar year has its own champion, but the cumulated ranking over two years decides the team to relegate. The 2009–10 edition was also basis for European Qualification to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The 2009 season saw the début of Germany in the top division, Georgia defending their title, and there were wins for Portugal and Russia in Bucharest.

Faced with the possibility to miss for the first time ever a Rugby World Cup, Romania were rewarded with the 2010 title. This feat was however not enough to overtake Georgia and Russia, who, helped by their good results from the previous year, gained the automatic qualification, leaving Romania to go through the Play-Off Qualification Rounds. Germany was relegated after failing to win any games.

Georgia won the 2011 edition, after beating Romania 18–11 in Tbilisi. The promoted team, Ukraine, lost all of their matches, except a single win over Portugal.

New format (since 2010)

For the 2010–2012 competition (and promotion and relegation between groups going forward to successive competitions), the top two divisions (previously 1 and 2A) were redefined as 1A and 1B, both having 6 teams (previously 6 and 5). The next four levels (previously 2B, 3A, 3B and 3C) become 2A-2D, under the new system, with the remnants of Division 3D making up the initial group of teams labelled as Division 3. In principle, each division is to encompass a different type of competition.

In Division 1, groups have 6 teams (meaning more matches and thus more travel), a significant fraction of the players are assumed to be professional or semi-professional (meaning that fixtures are, as often as possible, scheduled within the IRB's international fixtures time windows when clubs must release players for national duty), and only one team is promoted and one relegated every two years (meaning that the competitions are more stable).

In Division 2, groups have only 5 teams each (usually meaning one home match and one away match in the Autumn, and the same in the Spring, for each team), it is assumed that the majority of players are amateurs (meaning scheduling is not as limited), and in addition to the traditional automatic first-promoted-last-relegated system, fourth place from the higher pool will play second place from the lower pool after every two-year competition, with the winner taking the position in the higher pool. From a five-team group, one team is promoted, one team is relegated and two teams play in playoffs. Thus, a maximum of four of a pool's five teams could change from one two-year competition to the next.

In division 3, a single-location, short-time-period (one week or 10 days) tournament is organised once per year. This minimises travel costs for teams and time-off-work requirements for players, and allows the flexibility of having a different membership every year, rather than requiring the membership to be constant over two years. The best performing team over two years of tournaments is promoted to Division 2.

In the year of transition to the new system (2010), there were no relegations from any division below the highest, because the second-highest (old 2A, new 1B) was expanded by one team.

New format (from 2016)

From September 2016, the European Nations Cup will become the Rugby Europe International Championships, made up of 5 levels or divisions:

• Level 1 - The Championship. The top six ranked European teams outside the Six Nations contest the annual title. Replaces the former Division 1A.
• Level 2 - the Trophy. The next six ranked European teams bid for the Trophy title. Replaces the former Division 1B.
• Level 3 - Conference 1. Division 2, A through D, becomes the new Conference level, where twenty teams are separated into 2 Conferences made up of ten teams each, based on their previous year rankings. Each conference is then split into two, North and South, where teams could change each year depending on the competing teams - nations closest to boundary moved from North to South and vice versa each season as necessary to geographically balance the conferences.
• Level 4 - Conference 2
• Level 5 - Development. Replaces Division 3.

A promotion and relegation play-off system is maintained across all levels every year, moving away from the two-year system in place since 2003, meaning teams will be promoted and relegated every year.^[1]

Current divisions and standings (2016–2017)

Championship[2] P W Pts  Belgium* 0 0 0  Georgia 0 0 0  Germany 0 0 0  Romania 0 0 0  Russia 0 0 0  Spain 0 0 0	Trophy[3] P W Pts  Netherlands 2 2 10  Moldova 3 1 6  Portugal† 1 1 4  Poland 1 1 4   Switzerland* 2 1 4  Ukraine 3 0 0
Conference 1 North[4] P W Pts  Czech Republic 2 2 9  Latvia 2 1 5  Sweden† 2 1 5  Lithuania 2 1 4  Luxembourg* 2 0 1	Conference 1 South[5] P W Pts  Malta 2 2 10  Israel 2 2 9  Croatia 2 1 6  Cyprus 2 0 0  Andorra 2 0 0	Conference 2 North[6] P W Pts  Hungary† 2 2 9  Finland 2 1 5  Denmark 2 1 5  Norway 2 1 4  Estonia* 2 0 0	Conference 2 South[7] P W Pts  Slovenia 1 1 5  Austria 1 1 4  Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 0 1  Serbia 1 0 0  Turkey a 0 0 0
Development P W Pts  Belarus 0 0 0  Bulgaria† 0 0 0  Montenegro 0 0 0  Slovakia 0 0 0

Notes ^a Due to financial trouble, Turkey has postponed all games indefinitely.^[8]

Last updated: 27 November 2016.

Predecessor tournaments

FIRA Tournaments (1936–1938)

Year	Host city	Winner	Second place	Third place
1936	Berlin	France	Germany	Italy
1937	Paris	France	Italy	Germany
1938	Bucharest	France	Germany	Romania

Rugby Union European Cup (1952–1954)

Year	Winner	Second place	Third place
1952	France	Italy	West Germany
1954	France	Italy	Spain

FIRA Nations Cup (1965–1973)

Year	Winner	Second place	Third place
1965–1966	France	Italy	Romania
1966–1967	France	Romania	Italy
1967–1968	France	Romania	Czechoslovakia
1968–1969	Romania	France	Czechoslovakia
1969–1970	France	Romania	Italy
1970–1971	France	Romania	Morocco
1971–1972	France	Romania	Morocco
1972–1973	France	Romania	Spain

FIRA Trophy (1973–1997)

Year	Winner	Second place	Third place
1973–1974	France	Romania	Spain
1974–1975	Romania	France	Italy
1975–1976	France	Italy	Romania
1976–1977	Romania	France	Italy
1977–1978	France	Romania	Spain
1978–1979	France	Romania	Soviet Union
1979–1980	France	Romania	Italy
1980–1981	Romania	France	Soviet Union
1981–1982	France	Italy	Romania
1982–1983	Romania	Italy	Soviet Union
1983–1984	France	Romania	Italy
1984–1985	France	Soviet Union	Italy
1985–1987	France	Soviet Union	Romania
1987–1989	France	Soviet Union	Romania
1989–1990	France	Soviet Union	Romania
1990–1992	France	Italy	Romania
1992–1994	France	Italy	Romania
1995–1997	Italy	France	Romania

European Nations Cup (2000–present)

Winners

Year		First Division					Lower Division Champions
		Winner	Second	Third	Relegated		Division 2	Division 3
2000		Romania	Georgia	Morocco			Russia	Czech Republic
2001		Georgia	Romania	Russia			Poland	Not played [9]
2001–2002		Romania	Georgia	Russia	Netherlands		Czech Republic[10]	Slovenia
2003–2004		Portugal	Romania	Georgia	Spain		Ukraine	Moldova
2004–2006		Romania	Georgia	Portugal	Ukraine		Spain	Latvia
2006–2008		Georgia	Russia	Romania	Czech Republic		Germany	Sweden
2008–2010		Georgia	Russia	Portugal	Germany [11]		Ukraine	Lithuania
2010		Romania	Georgia	Russia
2011		Georgia	Romania	Portugal	Ukraine [12]		Sweden	Bosnia and Herzegovina
2012		Georgia	Spain	Romania
2013		Georgia	Romania	Russia	Belgium [13]		Netherlands	Turkey
2014		Georgia	Romania	Russia
2015		Georgia	Romania	Spain	Portugal		Belgium	Estonia
2016	Georgia	Romania	Russia

Winners (new format)

All-time table

	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	AVPPG	Pts	Champs
Georgia	85	69	4	12	2610	1038	+ 1572	30.70	268	9
Romania	85	62	2	21	2577	1064	+ 1513	30.31	242	4
Russia	79	45	3	31	2083	1671	+ 412	26.36	187	0
Portugal	85	35	3	47	1605	1865	- 260	18.88	152	1
Spain	75	22	4	49	1484	1966	− 482	19.78	132	0
Czech Republic	29	6	0	23	362	1075	− 713	12.48	40	0
Germany	20	1	1	18	220	863	− 643	11.00	18	0
Netherlands	15	1	0	14	278	652	− 374	18.53	17	0
Ukraine	20	1	0	19	201	998	− 797	10.05	15	0
Morocco	5	3	0	2	94	69	+ 25	18.80	11	0
Belgium	10	0	1	9	134	259	− 125	13.40	6	0

ENC champions

Performance by team

Nation	Winner	Runner-up	Third Place
Georgia	9	4	1
Romania	4	7	2
Portugal	1	0	3
Russia	0	2	6
Spain	0	1	1
Morocco	0	0	1

European Nations Cup statistics and records (2000–present)

DIVISION 1A

• TITLES
• Most Titles 9 -  Georgia (2001, 2007–2008, 2008–2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
• Most Consecutive Titles 6 -  Georgia (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)

TOP FLIGHT APPEARANCES

• 17, joint record
•  Georgia (2000–present)
•  Romania (2000–present)
•  Portugal (2000-2016)

WINS

• most wins overall 69  Georgia
• most home wins overall 37  Georgia
• most away wins overall 32  Georgia
• most consecutive wins overall 15  Georgia (1 February 2014 – present)
• most consecutive home wins 19  Georgia (14 February 2009 – present)
• most consecutive away wins 7  Georgia (1 February 2014 – present)
• fewest wins overall 0  Belgium (2 February 2013 – present)

DRAWS

• most draws overall 4 joint record
•  Georgia
•  Spain

LOSSES

• most losses overall 49  Spain

POINTS

• most points scored in a season 389  Romania (10 games - 2005–2006 ) 188  Georgia (5 games - 2016 )
• fewest points conceded in a season 80  Georgia (10 games - 2008–2009 ) 33  Georgia (5 games - 2016)
• most points conceded in a season 556  Ukraine (10 games - 2005–2006 )
• fewest points scored in a season 58  Germany (10 games - 2008–2009 ) 52  Netherlands(5 games - 2000 )
• most points scored in a match 101 - ( Georgia 98 - 3  Czech Republic 7 April 2007)
• most points scored in a match by one team 98  Georgia ( Georgia 98 - 3  Czech Republic 7 April 2007)
• biggest winning margin 97 -  Romania ( Romania 97 - 0  Ukraine 19 March 2005)
• most points scored by losing team 38 -  Spain ( Spain 38 - 40  Czech Republic 30 March 2003)
• biggest draw 21 - 21 joint record ( Russia- Romania 27 February 2010,  Belgium- Spain) 9 February 2013)
• fewest points scored in a match 12 joint record ( Portugal- Morocco 19 March 2000,  Spain- Georgia 22 February 2004,  Georgia- Russia 6 March 2004)
• fewest points scored by winning team 9 joint record ( Portugal 9 - 3  Morocco 19 March 2000,  Georgia 9 - 3  Russia 6 March 2004)

GAMES WITHOUT A LOSS

• Longest unbeaten run 24  Georgia (25 February 2012 – present)
• Most consecutive games without a loss home 32  Georgia (14 February 2004 – present)
• Most consecutive games without a loss away 12  Georgia (11 February 2012 – present)

GAMES WITHOUT A WIN

• 17, joint record
•  Ukraine (20 November 2004 - 17 March 2012)
•  Germany (15 November 2009 - 27 February 2016)

Other trophies

Several other trophies are contested within the main competition, mostly as long-standing fixtures between pairs of teams.

• Viriato Cup: Portugal versus Spain. The most recent Viriato Cup match was a draw, meaning Spain retained the trophy (2013)
• Trophy of the Two Iberias: Georgia versus Spain. The most recent Trophy of the Two Iberias match was won by Georgia (2016)
• Treasure of Lipovens: Romania versus Russia. The most recent Treasure of Lipovens match was won by Romania (2015)
• Antim Cup: Romania versus Georgia. The most recent Antim Cup match was won by Georgia (2016)
• Moscow Gold: Russia versus Spain. The most recent Moscow Gold match was won by Russia (2013)
• Coltan Cup: Portugal versus Belgium. The most recent Coltan Cup match was won by Portugal (2013)
• Trajan's Column: Spain versus Romania. The most recent Trajan's Column match was won by Romania (2013)
• Suebi Bowl: Germany versus Portugal. The most recent Suebi Bowl match was won by Portugal (2010)

See also

• Rugby World Cup
• History of rugby union matches between Georgia and Romania
• Antim Cup
• Six Nations Championship
• Rugby Europe (formerly FIRA–AER)

References

External links

• FIRA-AER website