EC wins for Belgium and Russia

The third round of pool games in this year’s European Championship saw a distinct change in the weather, from the warm and dry conditions that saw fast running and high scoring on the first two days, to a cool and rainy morning in Madrid.

The result was an increasingly wet ball and a hard ground overlaid with rain made the pitch increasingly slippery as the games went on.

Belgium 20 Czechia 5

The two teams only previous meeting, last year, was far closer than expected – given that the Belgians are far more experienced in test rugby that the Czechs – and the same proved to be the case in Madrid today.

Belgium did get a very early try in the first minute from Laura Bosman, but that was very nearly their only points of the half as they found it hard to break down the Czech defence. Kamila Rousova even pulled the central Europeans level midway through the half, and it looked as if the underdogs might go into the break all square until Ciska de Grave finally found a gap in the Czech line from what was almost the final play.

The conditions contributed to a similarly even second half, with superior Belgian fitness perhaps making the difference as last year’s European Trophy winners added two more tries from Margaux Lalli and Sytske D’Haeseleir to give them a comfortable, if not an overwhelming, win.

Russia 51 Switzerland 0

The previous two meeting between these teams have been very even, Russia winning narrowly in 2014 and Switzerland getting their revenge last year. However Russia this week have been bolstered by many of their sevens squad, and the outcome was a game where the result was never in doubt.

Russia began with a rush of tries. It took just three minutes before Polina Teslenko crossed the line, after which six more tries were racked up by the Russian in just over 20 minutes.

However, Switzerland dug in and a combination of the slippery conditions and Russia’s determination to use sevens-style tactics meant that the tidal wave of scoring subsided. There were no more scores in the first half, which ended at 39-0 for Russia, and just two more – both in the opening 12 minutes of the second half.

As a result, both teams could take something away from the game. Russia finished with an impressive 51-0 win, but Switzerland could look back on having held a very talented international opposition to just two scores in the final 50 minutes of the game.

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Finals Day on Saturday will therefore now feature Czechia vs Switzerland (1pm) for fifth place (and presumably, again, theKonektor Cup– probably rugby’s biggest trophy); then Russia vs Belgium for third place (3pm), before (at 5pm local time) the final, Spain and the Netherlands.

Although Switzerland, Russia and Spain will start as favourites, all three games promise to be well-contested and full of interest.

Links to team details and match videos will be added once they are available