Rugby Europe’s XVs tournament plans
There is life in European test rugby beyond the Six Nations – or at least there will be if plans being discussed by Rugby Europe come to fruition
Published by John Birch, February 10th, 2015
3 minute read
Switzerland beat the Czech Republic in a play-off for a place in the 2014 European Trophy
Although nothing is yet confirmed, and despite the distraction of Olympic sevens qualifying process, we can reveal that there are plans for two international XVs tournaments in Europe this year.
The firmest proposal is for a European Trophy tournament for the continent’s developing test teams. This would be almost a repeat of the 2014 trophy tournament that was hosted by Belgium last October, and would include four of the five teams that entered that competition – Belgium, Russia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic (but not the Netherlands, the 2014 winners).
An exciting aspect of the plan is that the tournament will be held in Switzerland – at either Geneva or Zug – which would be their first international women’s rugby tournament (fifteens or sevens), and another sign of the slow but steady development of the game in Switzerland. The dates proposed at this stage are 28thOctober – 1stNovember, which implies just two rounds of games (semi-finals and finals) rather than a full round-robin.
In addition the Spanish Rugby Federation is proposing to host a tournament in May which would feature the Spanish plus “A” teams from Wales, Scotland and Italy. As the only major women’s test team not involved in the Six Nations, Spain have been badly hit by the gradual disappearance of the traditional European Cup events – their only opportunity to play competitive test rugby outside the World Cup. These annual events used to include strong entries from major Six Nations teams, but seem to have been one of the higher profile casualties of the increasing importance of international sevens rugby.
Looking further ahead, the next European Championship is due in 2016, but at present there is no confirmation that it will take place in the same form as in the past. As it is the 2012 edition had only four entrants, instead of the 8-16 of previous tournaments, and the logistical challenges would appear to be significant as Rugby Europe will also have to organise a qualification process to see which European team will play the sixth-best Six Nations team for the final spot in the 2017 World Cup, alongside the usual sevens tournaments.