The Rugby Europe Championship deserves your attention

In the shadows of the Guiness Six Nations this weekend also marks the opening of the Rugby Europe Championship. The on-field drama and excitement of the second best international Rugby competition in the northern hemisphere might not exactly rival what’s on display at the Six Nations.

However, it most definitely deserves more attention and will have many insights to offer, especially in a World Cup year and with three of its participants also competing in the global rugby showpiece this Autumn in France.

The format of Rugby Europe’s premier competition has changed significantly for 2023 and no longer mirrors that of the Six Nations. Up until last year, five rounds of fixtures were played parallel to the Six Nations, with each of the six REC participants facing all other competitors once, while home-field advantage alternated year after year.

Now the competition is merely held on the same weekends, as the Six Nations, but has been entirely revamped with now eight participating national teams divided into two pools of four. After three round robin matches, the top two teams of each pool will determine the winner in two rounds of knock-out games, culminating in the grand final at a neutral venue on March 18th.

Meanwhile the bottom two sides of each pool will play two rounds of knock-out fixtures for fifth place. The three newly promoted teams are Belgium, Poland and Germany. They will face a tough proposition against the more established nations, while Russia remains shunned, due to the country’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

The current make-up of the league will be kept until the end of the 2024 championship when the worst-performing side of the combined 2023 / 2024 table will be relegated to Rugby Europe’s second-tier tournament called the Trophy.

Rugby Europe’s efforts to transform its most popular competition and broaden its appeal were met with a mixed reception amongst players, fans and officials.

While Spain prop Jon Zabala welcomes the "positive change", some of the mainstays of the competition voiced their dissatisfaction off the record about the reduced number of pre-scheduled fixtures and the neutral venue for the grand final.

All participants agree that planning the final two fixtures on very short notice ends up being more of a logistical challenge. Ticketing revenues might be jeopardised due to the short notice of the semi-final fixtures, while the natural final venue also equals less gate receipts for the two top teams.

Georgia’s captain Merab Sharikadze, the vastly experienced centre who captained his team to a historic win in Cardiff last November, does not mind Rugby Europe shaking the format up, but is critical of the scheduling: “The disappointing part is that the final venue is already set and it won’t be in Georgia, which will upset our supporters.“

Manuel Wilhelm, High Performance Director & CEO of the German Rugby Union acknowledges that “for teams like Germany this format is more attractive, as it gives us the chance to gradually improve towards the level of the top teams“.

However, the former international second-row forward also cautions that the short run-up ahead of the semi-final will pose a significant financial strain on top of being a logistical challenge to all participants, except for the well-funded and staffed Georgian union.

Belgium’s new forwards coach Mouritz Botha, who once again teams up with Mike Ford for the Black Devils, sees the format changes in a positive light: "It’s great that the competition has expanded slightly. This will make European Rugby stronger. Eight teams will now be able to play very competitive rugby and develop as a result."

Mouritz Botha

Despite the changes implemented, from a sporting point of view Georgia remain the team to beat in the competition. That does not come as a surprise, given that they bagged eleven Championship titles over the last twelve seasons. The Lelos are looking to defend their title with one eye on the World Cup later this year, where they will face Wales, Australia, Fiji and Portugal.

Lelos captain Merab Sharikadze insists that Georgia can improve once more this year and sets out the goal of more than just retaining the title for the REC: “The main objective in this tournament is to concentrate on ourselves, keeping the standards high and even improve, compared to how we were playing in November.“

Missing out on a match-up with northern neighbour Russia, traditionally the biggest rival for Georgia, will be a disappointment for the Lelos’ fans, as centre Sharikadze explains. “The Russia game was always the biggest part for the Georgia supporters and one hundred percent they will miss that adrenaline, but Georgian fans are also hoping for us to participate in bigger tournaments and hopefully one day we can achieve that!“

Spain, Georgia’s closest rival over the last couple of seasons, are starting from scratch yet again after their world cup qualification hopes were crushed for a second time, after being handed a points deduction for fielding an ineligible player.

Ironically it was South-African born hooker Gavin van den Berg, who played just over 30 minutes against the Netherlands in a match that Spain comfortably won by 43:0 in the 2022 edition of the tournament, as well as his involvement in the corresponding fixture the year before, despite not fulfilling the residency criteria, which cost Spain a rendezvous with van den Berg’s native South Africa.

Leaving behind the disappointment of failing to qualify for the world cup in neighbouring France, los Leones are now looking to re-build. Prop Zabala sees this year’s Rugby Europe Championship as an opportunity to integrate some younger players coming through. Overall Spanish rugby is geared towards a second appearance at the Rugby World Cup after 1999.

Romania meanwhile profited from Spain’s misfortune and will face off with the Springboks, Ireland, Scotland and Tonga in France later this year. Captain Mihai Macovei, who became Romania’s fifth test centurion last year, says that his team can win the competition.

In 2017 Romania became the last team other than Georgia to win the REC and the vastly experienced flanker Macovei wants to once again accomplish that feat. Being the veteran of two world cups he knows what competing in the global showcase of the sport entails.

But the majority of the oaks squad has not had the privilege, as Romania missed out on qualification for the very first time in 2019. Hence the 36-year-old sees this year’s tournament as the perfect preparation for the even bigger task.

Portugal are proof that the vast gap in quality between Rugby Europe’s premier competition and the feeder league called the Trophy can be bridged. In 2019 Os Lobos paved their way into the Championship by beating Germany in the promotion-relegation match by a single score and having to defend on their own try line with the clock in the red.

In a 2020 competition rendered chaotic due to the impact of the global pandemic, Portugal managed to stay up by edging out a home win against Belgium and surprising everyone by defeating Romania.

In 2022 the side coached by former France winger Patrice Lagisquet remained competitive and pulled off a massive upset by securing a draw versus Georgia away, but just fell short of beating Romania and Spain away.

Portugal players celebrate winning the RWC 2023 Final Qualification Tournament match between USA and Portugal at The Sevens Stadium on November 18, 2022 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Martin Dokoupil - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)

These results would have meant that Portugal just missed out on qualifying for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. But due to Spain’s self-inflicted misfortune, Portugal proceeded to the Repechage, where a last-gasp win against the USA Eagles guided them to their second World Cup appearance.

Winger Tomás Appleton now insists that Portugal are “eager to prove our value and show once again that our spot at the World Cup is well deserved“. This year will also be important to raise the game’s status in football-mad Portugal.

Belgium won promotion last year by topping the Rugby Europe Trophy ahead of Poland and Germany and should be the strongest of the newly promoted sides.

The Black Devils start their campaign with an entirely new coaching set-up. Former England defence and Bath head coach Mike Ford once again teams up with former Saracens and England lock Mouritz Botha - as they did in 2018 and 2019 for Germany.

George and Mike Ford (Photo by Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)

Botha as the forwards coach is well aware of the demands, as he knows the league well. "It will be a step up from the trophy, but we see ourselves as a team that belong in this league and we want to prove that."

Botha emphasises that he sees “a lot of potential“ in Belgian Rugby and in conjunction with the union’s forward-thinking board this just might be the “recipe for success“.

Germany meanwhile originally missed out on promotion by a whisker. Being even on points with Poland and with the better points difference to their name, the Black Eagles were bound to fall short on their goal of returning to the Championship, due to having lost the head-to-head on a bitterly cold November night in Gdynia on the Polish Baltic Sea coast.

However, with Russia being disqualified, the Germans were a late addition to the Championship. Once again playing the likes of Georgia, Spain and Romania will be “an adventure“, as coach Mark Kuhlmann explains.

Germany's pack test Samoa in 2019

This time the Germans will have to make do without the substantial backing of Hans-Peter Wild. The billionaire owner of Capri Sun had bankrolled German rugby until a fallout with the Union in 2018. These days the Heidelberg native turned Swiss resident prefers to put his money into the Top 14 club Stade Français.

German forwards coach Kehoma Brenner, also a native of the southwestern university town of Heidelberg, says the Black Eagles have to “get creative“ to make up for the shortfalls of being a mostly amateur nation. “Will, hard work and toughness“ are the keys to Germany staying up, according to the former Eagles' flanker.

Poland and the Netherlands find themselves in a similar situation to the Germans. Drawing their squad mostly from the amateur domestic leagues, with some foreign-based professionals propping up the squad.

The Netherlands already gained promotion to the Rugby Europe Championship in 2020, but failed to win a single fixture since. Therefore Dutch flanker Spike Salman explains: “We want to - and will - show that we belong in this competition and that we can compete in it.“

While the battle at the top is all about who can beat Georgia, the battle to avoid relegation seems more open. The three new additions to the league, as well as the Netherlands, seem on a similar footing. Only by staying in the Rugby Europe Championship can these teams can dream of making the next step -  Qualifying for the Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia.