2002–03 European Nations Cup Third Division

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The 2002–2004 European Nations Cup was the fourth edition of the newly reformed European Championship for tier 2 & 3 Rugby Union Nations. This was the second two-year cycled championship, the first to be planned from the start.

The Third division had a controversy development.

The team were divided into three groups according to the ranking of previous edition to play, but there were several problems.

In pool "A" Andorra withdrew and only four teams remained.

In pool "C" Monaco were banned after the match with Finland because of the presence of French played that had not the eligibility to play for Monaco team.

The match between Bulgaria and Norway had problem with the work of the Bulgarian called in substitution of the designed referee, tant wasn't able to arrive in Sofia.

So the European federation decided to change from a "two-years" formula to a double "two-years formula".

The Pool "C" match played was considered as "friendly match" and the four teams remained played a short tournament in Ibiza, Spain

The winner of the pool "B" was promoted to pool "A" for the 2003-04 ediiton,and also the winner of "Pool C" will be promoted to "pool B".

Pool A

The highest level was the Pool "A", with five teams:

Table

Place Nation Games Points Table
points
played won drawn lost for against difference
1  Latvia 3 3 0 0 98 23 +75 9
2  Moldova 3 1 1 1 64 71 -7 6
3  Hungary 3 1 0 2 63 96 -33 5
4  Serbia and Montenegro 3 0 1 2 58 93 -35 4

Results

5 October 2002
 Latvia 26 - 5 Hungary 
Riga

26 April 2003
 Hungary 47 - 23 Serbia and Montenegro 
Esztergom

26 April 2003
 Latvia 43 - 0 Moldova 
Riga

3 May 2003
 Serbia and Montenegro 18 - 29 Latvia 
Beograd

10 May 2003
 Moldova 47 - 11 Hungary 
Chişinău

24 May 2003
 Moldova 17 - 17 Serbia and Montenegro 
Chişinău

Pool B

The middle level was the Pool "B", with five teams:

Table

Place Nation Games Points Table
points
played won drawn lost for against difference
1  Malta 4 4 0 0 101 54 +47 12
2  Lithuania 4 3 0 1 147 53 +94 10
3  Luxembourg 4 2 0 2 58 113 -55 8
4  Austria 4 1 0 3 65 88 -23 6
5  Bosnia and Herzegovina 4 0 0 4 40 103 -63 4
  •  Malta promoted to Pool A

Results

27 October 2002
 Luxembourg 21 - 5 Bosnia and Herzegovina 
Cessange

23 November 2002
 Malta 22 - 18 Lithuania 
Marsa

26 November 2002
 Lithuania 32 - 10 Austria 
Vilnius

30 November 2002
 Austria 16 - 25 Malta 
Wien

29 March 2003
 Malta 34 - 6 Luxembourg 
Marsa

5 April 2003
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 14 - 20 Malta 
Sarajevo

10 May 2003
 Luxembourg 25 - 14 Austria 
Cessange

24 May 2003
 Lithuania 60 - 6 Luxembourg 
Klaipėda

7 June 2003
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 15 - 37 Lithuania 
Zenica

14 June 2003
 Austria 25 - 6 Bosnia and Herzegovina 
Wien

Pool C

  • "No official" match :
19 October 2002
 Monaco 90 - 0 Finland 
Monte Carlo

26 October 2002
 Bulgaria 21 - 12 Norway 
Sofia

Semifinals

5 June 2003
 Israel 30 - 13 Norway 
Ibiza

5 June 2003
 Bulgaria 42 - 3 Finland 
Ibiza

Third place final

7 June 2003
 Finland 20 - 55 Norway 
Ibiza

First place final

7 June 2003
 Israel 23 - 25 Bulgaria 
Ibiza

See also

Sources

  • www.irb.com