European Trophy: Looking up and down
The crucial second leg of the European Trophy takes place this weekend in Estergom, Hungary. For two teams it will end in promotion to the Grand Prix next year, but for two it will mean relegation to the Conference. We focus on Sweden, favourites to go up after the first leg, and Israel, aiming to avoid the drop.
Published by John Birch, July 5th, 2016
6 minute read
Emilia Kristiansson (Captain, Sweden)
“The first leg was a great experience for the team. All the team performed well and the tournament was organised superb by Czech Union and Rugby Europe. We had a tough first day but we managed to step up our performance the second day.
“This weekend I believe Germany will bounce back very strong in the second leg, and I am sure Scotland will have a great tournament. As a six nations team they are full of talented players.
“And there are some other strong teams. Romania has a great weapon in their super-speedy finishers. Hungary, as the home nation, will of course produce a strong show with Maria Gyolcsos, their key speedy player. But the team that impressed me the most in Prague was Poland. They surprised many teams with great sevens play and play a very physical game. I'm sure they will continue with a strong performance in the final leg as well.
“Other team worth mentioning are Israel, who played very well, and our Scandinavian neighbours Norway and Denmark.
“But for us, Sweden, we have a challenging weekend ahead of us trying to repeat our success in Prague. But we welcome and are looking forward to it!
“There is a big gap between some Grand Prix teams and the Trophy – obviously when some of them also play in the World Series - and those two teams going up will have to work even harder next year to compete against them”
Liat Geller (Team manager, Israel)
“This has been a very challenging year for us. From last year's squad, which was a long running team, we lost 5 players for various reasons, and just as important, we also switched coaches. So coming into Division A were mostly players who had no idea what they're up against, with not a lot of playing time together against other teams our level - not easy!
“In the very short time we had with our coach (starting late February) we had to mold a team together and overcome the regular roadblocks all women's team normally face, and add to that lack of outside competition.... not easy to prepare like that.
“The core group of players in the team have been playing together for four years now, which is huge. The flip side of it, is that you take a bunch of people who are very used to playing in a certain way, and you switch their coach and thus bring in a new playing method, so they have to (very) quickly adapt. So in a sense, the first tournament was a huge test - and we are very pleased with how it ended.
"I remember watching Hungary and Lithuania last year struggling in the tournament (Hungary eventually finished 9th I think and Lithuania was relegated down), and you really cannot overestimate the hard transition between the divisions. So add to the fact the players had to learn on the go - 10th place in Prague was great.
“That being said... it's not enough. So coming into this tournament, obviously our main goal is to hang on to that spot and, if possible (and I think it is) improve on it and make sure we survive the transition year. I hope and believe that once we prove ourselves, there will be increased support from the Ministry of Sports and it'll give a strong push to women's rugby in Israel.
“A little about us. Like I said, the biggest challenge is ALWAYS budget... it's mostly crucial in getting us to training games and competitions. While some or all of our competitors in the division have opponents a short flight or bus ride away, we have to flight at least 2-3 hours to play the nearest team. (Well, there's actually a women's team in Beirut, but whilst we would love to play them, I don't see it happening any time soon....).
“A lot of our players only start playing after they finish their army service, so they are already into their 'adult' life, and I think on average you can see that the Israeli team is older than almost or all the other teams. Not that being older is an issue, but when they have the next chapter in their lives already brewing strong, it's hard to get them to push everything forward and commit to a team on a strictly voluntary basis.
“They're just not still in their fun and games episode. But, they are extremely dedicated and like the Russian coach Pavel Baranovsky said, maybe the best way to get starteden routeto great achievements is to have everyone play because they love the sport and only when you achieve greatness should pay involved. So obviously we're doing some of that right”
Draw and match schedule