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Rugby Europe U18 Championships in Lisbon and Andorra
16/03/2016 - 31/03/2017
Top-ranked French junior side are the pick of the teams competing in Lisbon and Andorra across 16 days of elite youth rugby Defending champions France will take on Spain in its firstgame of the 2016 U18 Rugby Europe Championship which begins on Friday 18 March in Lisbon, Portugal. The nine-day championship will see the cream of Europe’s youth rugby players compete for the title, which culminates in the final on Saturday 26 th March, all games live-streamed free of charge on www.rugbyeurope.tv.
Running concurrently this year will be the Rugby Europe Trophy, also staged in Lisbon between tier 2 youth rugby nations including Poland and the Netherlands. Following the conclusion of those competitions, the Rugby Europe Conference 1 and 2 competitions will take place in Andorra between 29 March and 3 April.
With the France senior team faltering in the Six Nations, the U18 side are looking to showcase what French rugby fans can look forward to in years to come by retaining the Championship trophy they won in 2015. However, Georgia and Portugal will be hoping to challenge France for the title, especially the former who were trounced 57-0 in last year’s final.
In the Trophy competition, favourites Poland start their campaign against Latvia, whilst in the Conference competitions, top seeds Croatia and Bosnia will face hosts Andorra and Slovenia, respectively. The 8-team Championship and Trophy competitions start at the quarter final stage whereas the format for the Conference differs. The Conference format sees the six sides in each conference all play each other, with the first-place team in Conference 2 promoted and sixth-place side in Conference 1 relegated.
First held in Italy in 2004, European youth rugby has gone from strength to strength with the English, French and Irish youth teams all triumphing in recent years. The competitions have also provided the ideal platform for youth players to showcase their abilities and push their claims for roles in their senior sides. Players who are now rising to international prominence having played in the U18 championships include England’s Jack Nowell, Henry Slade and Maro Itoje, in addition to Ireland’s Robbie Henshaw.
President of Rugby Europe and IOC Member Octavian Morariu said: “The European youth competitions bring together the best talent across European youth-level rugby with the hope of providing a platform for some of these players to make the step up into their national senior sides. Our competitions aim to do this by giving players the chance to experience international tournament rugby in the best facilities. The competition also has enabled us to grow the game of rugby throughout Europe and with 28 teams competing this year, this is testament to the role the tournaments can play in improving participation and retention of players and coaches.”
Further information about the competition (seedings and fixtures): http://www.rugbyeurope.eu/competition-117.htm
Rugby Europe is the governing body responsible for the promotion, development, administration and management of international competitions for the 48 member unions across Europe: Men’s European Nations Cups, U18 European Championships and the 7s’ Grand Prix Series (men and women), in total over 70 international games and 16 rugby tournaments each year.
Contact:
Alex Bake, Generate [email protected] : + 44 (0) 203 735 8421