Balkan Cup summary

[langpark]

What a shame, you guys here claim to be the fanatics of International Rugby League, yet not a single mention of this tournament that just happened. Anyway, in case anyone cares, here's a quick summary:

Serbia 50-0 Hungary, was 42-0 at the break. A combination of rain and fatigue saw a lot of dropped ball in the second half and hence less points scored. The young Serbian halfback outstanding.

Bosnia 4-58 Greece, very physical match but turned into a blowout. I didn't see this one so I can't really comment much more.

Bosnia 32-6 Hungary (for 3rd place). Again, I think it was 26-0 at the break. Hungary didn't give up though and eventually scored their first ever try in an international match.

Serbia 22-50 Greece. Greece shot to a 14-0 lead very early on, then Serbia fought back and it was 12-18 at the break. Second half was also very physical but Greece got the upper hand and a few quick tries went in, which effectively killed off the contest. The crowd was very vocal and really got behind the Serbs, made for a great atmosphere.

Overall, I think it was a great tournament and a great concept. At this level, where team budgets are minimal, tournaments need to be short like this, with a few matches being played in a short period of time.

The Serbians were great in their organisation of the tournament, and all matches were streamed live on the internet! Which is why it's even more disappointing that so few of you even bothered to take an interest and get behind the emerging nations of international Rugby League. If the "hardcord" supporters don't bother, we can never expect the average supporter to...

 

[expansionist]

hahaha! Langpark you are right.

Ive noticed this forum is slipping a bit of late

Thanks so much for the round up - I and maybe like others - were so blown away by the amount of International RL on offer on the weekend got a bit lost in it all

 

[miguel de cervantes]

how has greece shot up to a level superior to serbia in so short a time?

 

[langpark]

There were 8 Greek-Australians in the team...

 

[Evil Homer]

I posted about it on the 'upcoming internationals' thread. There did seem to be a lot of Aussie influence in the Greek team, but I guess it's not a bad thing if these players are willing to commit to playing in minor tournaments. Great scenes when Bosnia scored their first international try in the last minute against Greece.

It's not just this forum that has ignored the tournament BTW, the RLEF website only has a match report for one of the four games, I guess because Bosnia and Hungary aren't officially recognized yet?

 

[paulmac]

I watched the final live,had issues with the stream for the other matches.Where do Greece go from here?They have now won the European championship C,the Balkan Cup and beaten this years European Championship B winners.Are they going to be allowed in the RLWC qualifying tournament?
On the final itself Greece looked a bit quicker all over the park.And how big was no 18, he made Tony Williams look small.Did winning these 2 comps make any mention in the Greek press?

 

[The Partisan]

Not a case of not caring LP .....more not enough time to read / write about everything ! So thanks for plugging that gap !


I do feel for the teams that are dominated by ( if not fully consist of) domestic players when up against a team that has players from a lifelong association with a RL nation. That said, perhaps it helps them to improve their game if playing against better opposition - learning new skills and tricks.

Really, really, really do hope we are still talking about these teams in ten years time. Preferably in a positive note !

 

[langpark]

Yeah, I suppose you're right, there was a lot happening internationally on the weekend...

Greece will remain in Group C, as Group B spans two years and they are currently halfway though. WC Qualifiers for 2017 is the goal, but some criteria (for full RLIF membership) still need to be fulfilled until that is possible...

PS: Homer, there are reports for all the matches on the RLEF site!