European Nations Cup (rugby union)

European Nations Cup

Current season, competition or edition: 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)

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	8	80	64	4	12	84%	2015
Romania	4	80	58	2	20	74%	2015
Russia	0	74	42	3	29	59%	2015
Portugal	1	80	35	3	42	45%	2015
Spain	0	70	21	3	46	34%	2015
Czech Republic	0	29	6	0	23	21%	2007-2008
Morocco	0	5	3	0	2	60%	2000
Netherlands	0	15	1	0	14	7%	2001-2002
Ukraine	0	20	1	0	19	5%	2012
Belgium	0	10	0	1	9	0%	2014
Germany	0	15	0	0	15	0%	2015

Performance by team

Nation	Winner	Runner-up	Third Place
Georgia	8	2	1
Romania	4	6	2
Portugal	1	0	3
Russia	0	2	5
Spain	0	1	1
Morocco	0	0	1

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 (2015)
• Treasure of Lipovens: Romania versus Russia. The most recent Treasure of Lipovens match was won by Russia (2015)
• Antim Cup: Romania versus Georgia. The most recent Antim Cup match was won by Georgia (2015)
• 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