European Nations Cup (rugby union)

European Nations Cup
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2014–16 ENC 1st Division
Sport Rugby union
Founded 2000
No. of teams See below
Continent Europe
Most recent champion(s)  Georgia
Most titles  France (25),
 Romania (9),
 Georgia (8)

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

The tournament is split into 7 divisions, each with 4–6 teams. The divisions play on a two-year cycle with the teams playing each other both home and away. Since 2009, the title is assigned according to a one-year ranking. The current champions are Georgia, who won the 2014 Title.

Since Italy's joining the Five Nations Championship in 2000, making it the Six Nations, there has been no promotion, or relegation, between the European Nations Cup and the Six Nations.

After the Pool rounds of the 2015 World Cup where Georgia, Italy & Romania took part: Georgia were ranked 14th with 71.45 ranking points; Italy - 12th 72.74; Romania - 17th 66.59. Spain were ranked 21st 61.54; Russia - 22nd 61.10; Belgium - 26th 56.47; Portugal - 29th 55.72 & Germany - 30th 54.78.

History

2014–2016 European Nations Cup Divisions
Key
Six Nations
Division 1A
Division 1B
Division 2A
Division 2B
Division 2C
Division 2D
Division 3A
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 Constanţa, 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/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.

Current divisions and standings (2014–2016)

Key
* Team promoted from the division below after the 2012–14 season
Team relegated from the division above after the 2012–14 season
Team's first season
Division 1A P W Pts
 Georgia 7 7 31
 Romania 7 5 24
 Russia 7 5 22
 Spain 7 3 16
 Portugal 7 1 5
 Germany* 5 0 1
Division 1B P W Pts
 Belgium 7 6 28
 Moldova 7 4 22
 Ukraine 7 5 22
 Poland 8 4 18
 Netherlands* 5 2 11
 Sweden 8 0 0
Division 2A P W Pts
  Switzerland 6 5 23
 Czech Republic 6 4 22
 Croatia 6 3 16
 Malta 6 2 11
 Israel* 6 0 4
Division 2B P W Pts
 Lithuania 6 6 30
 Latvia 6 4 19
 Andorra 6 3 13
 Cyprus* 6 2 9
 Hungary* 6 0 4
Division 2C P W Pts
 Luxembourg* 6 6 27
 Slovenia 6 5 23
 Austria 6 2 11
 Serbia 6 2 9
 Denmark 6 0 6
Division 2D P W Pts
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 6 6 26
 Norway 5 3 14
 Bulgaria 6 2 12
 Finland 6 2 10
 Turkey* 5 1 7
Division 3 P W Pts
 Belarus‡ 0 0 0
 Estonia 0 0 0
 Greece 0 0 0
 Montenegro 0 0 0
 Slovakia 0 0 0

Last updated: 19 October 2015.

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 [1]
2001–2002  Romania  Georgia  Russia  Netherlands  Czech Republic[2]  Slovenia
2003–2004  Portugal  Romania  Georgia  Spain  Ukraine  Moldova
2005–2006  Romania  Georgia  Portugal  Ukraine  Spain  Latvia
2007–2008  Georgia  Russia  Romania  Czech Republic  Germany  Sweden
2008–2009  Georgia  Russia  Portugal  Germany [3]  Ukraine  Lithuania
2010  Romania  Georgia  Russia
2011  Georgia  Romania  Portugal  Ukraine [4]  Sweden  Bosnia and Herzegovina
2012  Georgia  Spain  Romania
2013  Georgia  Romania  Russia  Belgium [5]  Netherlands  Turkey
2014  Georgia  Romania  Russia
2015  Georgia  Romania  Spain TBD TBD TBD
2016 TBD TBD TBD

All-time table

Nation Champs Games Won Draw Lost Win/Lose Percentage Last Season
 Georgia 8806441284%2015
 Romania 4805822074%2015
 Russia 0744232959%2015
 Portugal 1803534245%2015
 Spain 0702134634%2015
 Czech Republic 029602321%2007-2008
 Morocco 0530260%2000
 Netherlands 01510147%2001-2002
 Ukraine 02010195%2012
 Belgium 0100190%2014
 Germany 01500150%2015

Performance by team

Nation Winner Runner-up Third Place
 Georgia 821
 Romania 462
 Portugal 103
 Russia 025
 Spain 011
 Morocco 001

Other trophies

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

See also

References

  1. Was played the first round of 2003 Rugby World Cup – European qualification
  2. Was played as the second round of 2003 Rugby World Cup – European qualification
  3. relegation and promotion on two year based ranking
  4. relegation and promotion on two year based ranking
  5. relegation and promotion on two year based ranking

External links

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