Dutch Olympic dreams end in Lisbon

For nine teams this weekend’s European Repecharge tournament in Lisbon was always going to be the end of hopes of reaching the Olympic Games in Rio – though in truth most travelled without real expectations of winning a place.

Germany, for example, sent a young team with several big names missed – apparently the start of a campaign for qualification for the 2024 Games - while the resignation of the Ukraine coach a week before the tournament, with the statement that he had achieved his objectives, showed how importantly they were taking the tournament. In addition Belgium, Romania and the three Scandinavian teams – Denmark, Finland and Sweden – were realistically marking their cards ahead of next season’s European Championships.

In practice only five teams were seriously in the running for the three places with Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands the favourites, but with Portugal and Italy as dangerous outsiders.

Spain and Ireland showed exactly what they intentions were from their opening games, each rattling up fifty points against Denmark and Romania, while the Dutch – who were missing two key players for the tournament – started competently, if less spectacularly, with a 22 unanswered point win over Sweden. Elsewhere Portugal walloped the young Germans, Italy saw off the Finns after a brief scare, and bubbly Belgians, playing with the huge confidence, brushed aside Ukraine.

It was a pattern largely repeated in round two, with the Dutch this time hitting fifty points against Finland, while Belgium asked the Irish a few questions before going down 24-5.

The final round of games were largely about seeding places for Day 2 – with the top seeding place offering a potentially easier draw. One of the final places in the quarters were quickly sorted out with close win for Belgium against Romania, giving them second place in their pool. Ireland had clearly been doing their pre-game maths as they showed no mercy to Ukraine, knowing they had to score as many as possible into order to stop the Spanish being top seeds. Their 50-0 win set Spain a target of thirty for their game against Portugal, but the growing crowd support was lifting the home team who put in an impressive first half display, restricting Spain to a single try. They tired in the second half but were still able to restrict Spain to just a 22-0 win. The Dutch also won their final game comfortably – but at the cost of Tessa Veldhuis, carried off after hitting her head on the ground against the Italians.

By and large Day One had gone as expected – and Day Two continued the trend. Ireland and Spain swept to comfortable quarter-final wins, but Netherlands were forced to fight all the way against Belgium before Portugal and Italy fought an exciting uncompromising high-stakes game that the home team just edged 7-5.

And so to the semi-finals. Again Portugal rose to the occasion at the start of their game, taking an early lead against Ireland, but the Irish remained calm, took command of the game, and silenced the crowd with quick scores on the way to an impressive 28-5 win that saw them guarantee their place in the Olympic qualifier.

The Netherlands and Spain then met to decide the second qualifier place. As they have so often, the Dutch took the battle to their opponents at the start, but the Spanish survived the onslaught, broke free and scored. Two more tries were enough to shut out the Dutch, who managed just a consolation score at the end.

So the tournament came to the inevitable must-win third place with the Netherlands facing the fast improving Portuguese. It was a match that Dutch would normally have expected to win comfortably – last month they beat Portugal 28-0 – but the crowd and occasion made for a very different game. The two teams were tied at 5-5 at half-time, before Portugal got the vital score in the second half to win 12-7.

And so the Netherlands become the first big-name casualty on the Road to Rio. Famously the first team to go professional (before the last Olympics), thanks to generous sponsorships deals that the players were involved in winning, for a while they looked strong contenders for an Olympic place. They perhaps peaked too early, arguably in 2012 when they reached the final at the London Sevens, and never really recovered from being relegated from the World Series after the first season. The Dutch suffered from the ball not tending to bounce their way in vital games, and the loss of key players over the past year did not help their cause. The question is where they go next. They have a strong junior programme in place, and still have a chance to qualify for the World Series, but several players have put their lives on hold for the past few years. Will they play on for 2020?

After such a tense game, and with both teams already having achieved their objective, the final between Spain and Ireland risked being an anti-climax. However it proved to be an exciting game with Ireland taking a first half lead before eventually losing 26-19.

Elsewhere Finland learnt what a tough ask Grand Prix rugby is likely to be next year as they finished last, losing to Division B champions Denmark who will have learnt a great deal and looked good at times, despite some defensive lapses. Belgium also had a great weekend, reaching the plate final before losing to Italy. If they play as well as this next year their newly-won Grand Prix place should be safe in 2016. Italy themselves showed potential in sevens, but are likely to prioritise XVs until at least 2017.

Group A

Nation

Won

Drawn

Lost

For

Against

Spain

3

0

0

119

5

Portugal

2

0

1

93

27

Germany

1

0

2

47

88

Denmark

0

0

3

10

149

·         Spain 52-5 Denmark

·         Portugal 43-0 Germany

·         Spain 45-0 Germany

·         Portugal 50-5 Denmark

·         Germany 47-0 Denmark

·         Portugal 0-22 Spain

Group B

Nation

Won

Drawn

Lost

For

Against

Ireland

3

0

0

126

0

Belgium

2

0

1

41

41

Ukraine

1

0

2

22

81

Romania

0

0

3

24

86

·         Ireland 52-0 Romania

·         Ukraine 5-19 Belgium

·         Ireland 24-5 Belgium

·         Ukraine 17-12 Romania

·         Belgium 17-12 Romania

·         Ireland 50-0 Ukraine

Group C

Nation

Won

Drawn

Lost

For

Against

Netherlands

3

0

0

96

0

Italy

2

0

1

52

34

Sweden

1

0

2

43

49

Finland

0

0

3

12

120

·         Netherlands 22-0 Sweden

·         Italy 30-7 Finland

·         Netherlands 52-0 Finland

·         Italy 22-5 Sweden

·         Finland 5-38 Sweden

·         Netherlands 22-0 Italy

Quarter-finals (1st-8th)

·         Ireland 40-0 Germany

·         Spain 31-5 Sweden

·         Netherlands 17-0 Belgium

·         Portugal 7-5 Italy

Cup Semi Finals (1st-4th)

·         Ireland 28-5 Portugal

·         Spain 21-5 Netherlands

3rd/4th place

·         Portugal 12-5 Netherlands

Cup Final: 1st/2nd place

·         Ireland 19-26 Spain

Plate Semi Finals (5th-8th)

·         Germany 5-36 Italy

·         Sweden 17-22 Belgium

7th/8th Match

·         Germany 19-12 Sweden

Plate final: 5th/6th Match

·         Italy 26-0 Belgium

Bowl Semi Finals (9th-12th)

·         Ukraine 31-0 Denmark

·         Romania 15-10 Finland

11th/12th Match

·         Denmark 24-0 Finland