2021 Qualifiers

[Foreign Legion]

As Russia prepare to take on Spain and Serbia early next month in European Championship B, Russian Federation of Clubs president Denis Korolev is predicting that sport will receive a significant boost.

“Participation of the Russian national team will be of great importance for the development of the rugby league in Russia,” he said from Moscow.

“Matches of the national team will be covered in the media, shown on TV and internet channels. This can attract new players and sponsors ready to help develop our sport.”

The initial train-on squad announced by the Federation includes at least one player from each of their nine domestic teams.

“This is the current number left, which despite all difficulties, especially those related to financing, continue to develop rugby league,” Korolev confirmed.

Fourteen of the squad, including veterans Alexandr Lysokon and Petr Botnarash come from reigning champions, army side CSKA who beat rivals Spartak in the Grand Final in front of over 1,000 fans, with third-placed side Vityaz coming from the city of Perm.

“Championships have been held since 1993 and the ARLK have been conducting them since 2013,” Korolev added.

“Locomotive Moscow collected a record eleven championships with Kazan Arrows next with four. The oldest team, Moscow Magicians, have been champions once and RK Vereya won in 2013 and again two years later.

“We have been participating in European Championships B since 2010, winning it that year and again in 2012-13. We have the utmost respect for our opponents this time but we genuinely believe we can progress closer to the World Cup finals.”



https://www.loverugbyleague.com/pos...-cup-qualifiers-to-give-rugby-league-a-boost/

 

[langpark]

That will be huge if Pelissier plays for Spain!

 

[Nuke]

Spain vs Russia just kicked off now. Live streaming on YouTube (search for España vs Rusia rugby league 2018).

¡Vamos España!

 

[Nuke]

Full-time in Valencia
Spain 32 def Russia 24

Good game. Nice, open attacking footy, particularly in the second half.
Spain's goalkicking needs some work though.

 

[adamkungl]

Just watched it.. very sloppy game I thought. A lot of mistakes. But the 2nd half had some entertaining attacking movements.
2 chip and chase tries by Spain.
Russia will regret a number of coach-killing errors, especially failing to recover kick-offs after scoring.

Spain now in the box seat to advance and Russia need to overcome Serbia in a few weeks to stay alive. Serbia will be very well prepared after games against both Wales Dragonhearts and France.

Having watched the last Norway game live and now this one, it's hard to see much difference in quality between the 2 tiers. If anything, Norway seemingly played a better game than either Spain or Russia. When a Euro B team comes up against Greece or Norway for the final WC21 spot, i don't think by any means that the B team can be too comfortable.

 

[Nuke]

I did have to have a smile. I left the room at one stage through the first half but had the volume up loud enough so I could hear it still.
My Spanish isn't all that brilliant, I have to say, however when I was in the other room coming back in, I heard the disappointed sounds of the commentators say "Ah, otra vez". I looked at the screen and it was clear Spain had passed the ball into touch again. It wasn't good play, but I thought it was funny that I picked up that commentary and knew what had happened even without watching it!

You're right though, it was sloppy at times, particularly the first half, but there was plenty to like about the attacking play.

 

[adamkungl]

Just over 24 hours until the Russia V Serbia game.
No one from either organisation, or the RLEF, has seen fit to publish so much as a match preview let alone a streaming link

 

[Irish-bulldog]

Serbia should towel up the ruskkies. I remember when the Russians were playing America in Russia with nearly 40,000 people watching ?, early 2000’s maybe ?. What happen they seemed to have so much potential.

 

[Foreign Legion]

Russia 36 to Serbia 18

 

[Dakink]

Russia 36 to Serbia 18

Read online that their were Visa problems for the Servian Heritage players meant to fly over from Aus.

I'll try find the article.

 

[Irish-bulldog]

So does that mean Serbia are finished ? Surely Spain will lap them

 

[Foreign Legion]

So does that mean Serbia are finished ? Surely Spain will lap them

Serbia need to win by 14 against Spain.

 

[adamkungl]

Watched the game online. Russia looked a lot slicker than their loss V Spain. Serbia lacked discipline and their defence couldn't fill the holes they kept digging themselves into.

The big score means Russia overtake Spain and are now guaranteed to progress.
The differential between Spain and Serbia is 26 in Spain's favour so that means Serbia need a 14 point win to get clear, and a 29 point win to top the group (which, if the RLIF seed the final tournament correctly, puts the group winner in pole position for a World Cup berth * more on this later).

Not sure about the Visa issues, apparently it was a late regulation change by the Russian government. Strange stuff and tough for Serbia who lost their coach and I think 4 players.

 

[adamkungl]

Topping the group should matter. If the seedlings are sane, the top of group B should quite rightly be in a strong position to qualify for 2021.

The final European tournament will have 6 entrants in 2 pools of 3, with 2 from each pool going on to the Cup.
Italy
3rd and 4th from Euro A.
1st and 2nd from Euro B.
1st from Euro C.

So the correct seeding that gives a fair advantage to higher ranked nations from the previous tournaments is:
Pool 1: Italy, A4, B2
Pool 2: A3, B1, C1

Any other method would disadvantage nations for finishing higher in a tournament.
It's pretty easy to see why being in the A3 or B1 positions is better

 

[Nuke]

Spain vs Serbia this Saturday in Belgrade, Serbia.

I've not found out what time it's on yet, but Spain in particular almost always have someone live streaming their games, so it's bound to be on YouTube either live or afterwards.

 

[langpark]

Spain vs Serbia this Saturday in Belgrade, Serbia.
View attachment 24230
I've not found out what time it's on yet, but Spain in particular almost always have someone live streaming their games, so it's bound to be on YouTube either live or afterwards.

So do Serbia, even all their club matches. So this will definitely be on live stream.

 

[Nuke]

Serbia vs Spain about to kick-off. Just doing the national anthems at the moment.
Spain in mostly white jerseys and red shorts, Serbia in red and blue.

 

[Irish-bulldog]

Link to watch ??

 

[jim_57]

Link to watch ??

https://www.youtube.com/c/sportuzivotv/live

 

[Nuke]

Whoops sorry! I meant to put it in my post.

Half-time: Serbia lead 18-14

There's no commentary (which, given it's in Serbia, doesn't bother me!) and no score on screen, so unless you're paying attention to it and keeping track like I am, you wouldn't know who's winning. Game's pretty even at the moment, with scoring basically going tit-for-tat.