Rugby World Cup 2007 - Euprope Qualifying Matches

[Polynesian Warrior]

Road to RWC 2007 begins in Andorra
Friday August 27 2004
Andorra to host Norway

The first match of the Rugby World Cup 2007 kicks off on 11 September 2004, ten months after the Final of the RWC 2003.

England played Australia in Sydney on 22 November 2003 in the 2003 Final. Andorra play Norway in Andorra in the first qualifying match of the 2007 World Cup.

The last referee for the 2003 Final was André Watson of South Africa. He will referee the first match of the 2007 Wolrd Cup, his farewell to international refereeing.

Carl Joergensen of Denmark will referee the return match between the two countries in Norway. Johan Meersman, who played prop for Belgium in his playing days, will referee the first qualifier between Austria and Bosnia, and Bernd Gabbei of Germany the return match. This will be Gabbei's fourth World Cup match. His first qualifier was between the Netherlands and Israel in 1993.

Eight teams are paired for the Round 1 of Qualification. They play home and away.

The winner of each pair goes on to Round 2.

The Round 1 matches in pairs are as follows:

11 September: Andorra vs Norway in Andorra
18 September: Norway vs Andorra

The winner of this group joins Spain, Croatia, Slovenia in Hungary in Round 2 starting this October.

25 September: Bosnia Herzegovina vs Austria
16 October: Austria vs Bosnia Herzegovina.

The winner joins Germany, Denmark, Moldavia and Luxembourg for matches in Round 2 starting in October.

18 September: Finland vs Bulgaria
30 October: Bulgaria vs Finland

The winner joins Poland, Switzerland, Malta and Serbia Montenegro for matches in Round 2 starting in October.

16 October: Israel vs Lithuania
23 October: Lithuania vs Israel.

The winner joins Sweden, Holland, Latvia and Belgium for matches in Round 2 starting in October.

Round 2:

Pool A

17 October or 30 April 2005: Andorra or Norway vs Slovenia
23 October: Croatia vs Slovenia
23 October: Hungary vs Andorra or Norway
21 November: Spain vs Hungary
6 November or 21 November: Slovenia vs Hungary
13 February or 7 May 2005: Andorra or Norway vs Spain
27 March 2005: Slovenia vs Spain
23 April 2005: Hungary vs Croatia

Pool B

30 October: Denmark vs Moldavia
13 November: Luxembourg vs Denmark
13 November: Moldavia vs Germany
27 November: Germany vs Luxembourg
12 March 2005: Luxembourg vs Bosnia Herzegovina or Austria
2 April 2005: Germany vs Denmark
9 April or 4 May 2005: Denmark vs Bosnia Herzegovina or Austria
16 April 2005: Bosnia Herzegovina or Australia vs Germany
16 April 2005: Moldavia vs Luxembourg
30 April 2005: Bosnia Herzegovina or Austria vs Moldavia

Pool C

23 October: Latvia vs Sweden
30 October: Belgium vs Latvia
30 October: Sweden vs Israel or Lithuania
9 April 2005: Israel or Lithuania vs Belgium
16 April 2005: Belgium vs Netherlands
23 April 2005: Netherlands vs Sweden
30 April 2005: Sweden vs Belgium
30 April 2005: Latvia vs Israel or Lithuania
7 May 2005: Netherlands vs Latvia
14 May 2005: Israel or Lithuania vs Netherlands

Pool D

The dates for this pool are unclear.

The matches are:

2 October: Poland vs Switzerland
16 October: Switzerland vs Malta
6 November: Malta vs Poland
15 March 2005: Serbia-Montenegro vs Switzerland
9 April 2005: Malta vs Serbia-Montenegro
7 May 2005: Poland vs Serbia-Montenegro

Also:

Finland or Bulgaria vs Poland
Finland or Bulgaria vs Malta
Serbia-Montenegro vs Finland or Bulgaria

Goodluck to all the teams and its good to see this countries playing regular test matches .

 

[Dr Crane]

Lets go Andorra.

 

[Anonymous]

The sad thing is whoever manages to qualify from that mess will just get whomped by whoever needs to qualify via repecharge (usually Wales or Ireland, Tonga or Samoa, etc...)

 

[bayrep]

I am surprised at the countries playing. I don't think it really matters if they get hammered by a repechage team as the team will see it as a stepping stone for eventually making a world cup in the years to come. Look at the soccer world cup as example how many teams got dicked when they faced up against the big teams but eventually did make it. Give the RWC the same amount of time as the SWC and see how many different teams make the finals.

 

[In-goal]

I think you will find that the same nations will always dominate, these minows are just there to make up the numbers, ala samoa and tonga in the Oceania conference in Football(Soccer)

 

[Polynesian Warrior]

Samoa and Tonga will never make a soccer world cup ever . But rugby union minows like Spain , Uruguay and Georgia made the union world cup . There is always a chance that this minows will upset any of this other minows to compete in a world cup .

 

[Polynesian Warrior]

Kenya up five

30 AUGUST 2004




Kenya defeated Zambia 33-10 in Nairobi to move up from 51st to 46th in the latest edition of the IRB World Rankings.

The home team found themselves 19-3 up at half-time in the East Africa Rugby Union Stadium and, despite a second-half try from Zambia's Dodick Nowanga, scored two more themselves through Enos Otyeno and Denis Benugus to claim a comfortable victory.

Zambia lost 1.2 ratings points to drop from 61st to 63rd in the rankings.

Madagascar and Zimbabwe swapped places in the rankings following the former's 23-18 win in front of 10,000 spectators at the Antananarivo National Stadium.

Madagascar are now in 44th as Zimbabwe slip to 47th.

Kenya - Zambia match details:

Ist Half: Kenya 19-3 Zambia
Kenya - 3 tries (Newton Ongalo, Allan Wamanga, Frank Ndong), 2 conversions (Moses Kola)
Zambia- 1 Penalty (Andrew Kaminsa, Min 9:50)
2nd Half
Kenya- 2 tries (Enos Otieno, Derrick Wamalwa), 2 Conversions (Tito Oduk)
Zambia- 1 try (Caesar Mutesha), 1 Conversion (Kamisa Andrew)

 

[booeycollector]

Great to see this counties playing....good luck to all.

 

[Polynesian Warrior]

Here are just some of the Rugby World Cup 7's qualifying from Asia .


IRB's Asian qualifiers in Kandy
Friday September 10 2004
Preparation for Hong Kong 2005

The IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens are in Hong Kong on 18-20 March 2005. This weekend there is the Asian qualifying tournament at Bogambara Stadium in the hill capital of Kandy, Sri Lanka, which will qualify three teams for Hong Kong.

There are twelve countries divided into four pools for the Asian qualifiers. Hong Kong are not there because, as hosts, they qualify automatically.

The countries and pools are:

Pool A: Korea, Singapore, Arabian Gulf
Pool B: Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Guam
Pool C: Thailand, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan
Pool D: Japan, China, India

This is the second last qualifying tournament. It is to be followed by an Africa Zone B qualifier in Tunisia on 25-26 September. One team will qualify from that.

Other regional qualifiers are:

Oceania: Tonga
South America: Uruguay
North America: USA
Africa Zone B: Kenya
Europe: Portugal, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Georgia, Russia

In all 15 countries from qualifying rounds will go to Hong.

Eight teams qualified from the 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens by reaching the quarter-finals - New Zealand, who were the winners, Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa and South Africa. They join Hong Kong.

The 12 Asian teams at the Asian qualifiers in Kandy will be divided into four pools of three. The teams in each pool play each other once.

The top two teams in each pool will play a 'mini final' to decide who will go on to contest the semi-finals. The winners of the two semi-finals will gain automatic qualification to Hong Kong, while the losing semi-finalists will play each other to decide the third qualifier.

The favourites to qualify are Japan and Korea. The battle for third qualifier could be most interesting with the Arabian Gulf fancying its chances with their mixture of teachers, airline cabin crew, an accountant, tank engineer and personal trainers, many of whom are taking unpaid leave to compete in Kandy.

Their captain, Paul Austin, a schoolmaster, who was born in Yemen, says: "This tournament always comes at absolutely the worst time for me as it's so close to the start of the new term. It takes a very understanding employer to let you disappear for rugby, but without that support it would be extremely difficult."

One of the interesting matches on the opening day could be between Japan and China whose rugby is making rapid strides.

The matches for the opening day, Saturday, are as follows, with local times:

13.20 Chinese Taipei vs Guam
13.40 Thailand vs Kazakhstan
14.00 Japan vs India
14.20 Korea vs Arabian Gulf
15.00 Malaysia vs Guam
15.20 Sri Lanka vs Kazakhstan
15.40 China vs India
16.00 Singapore vs Arabian Gulf
16.40 Chinese Taipei vs Malaysia
17.00 Thailand vs Sri Lanka
17.20 Japan vs China
17.40 Korea vs Singapore

 

[nz_novocastrian]

Well, it's good to see rugby is played in all these countries. I was impressed with Georgia in a couple of matches in the world cup.

 

[thescrum.co.uk]

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2004 1:40 pm Post subject: World Cup Qualifiers, results

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Latest Results

10.10.2004

Paraguay 79, Colombia 7 in Sao Paulo (South America B Championship)

Brazil 73, Peru 3 in Sao Paulo (South America B Championship)



02.10.2004

Poland 20, Switzerland 15 in Gydnia (WCQ Europe Rnd 2, Pool B)



25.09.2004

Namibia 68, Zimbabwe 8 in Windhoek (CAR Div.1 South final)

Austria 29, Bosnia 10 in Zenica (WCQ Europe Rnd 1)



18.09.2004

Bulgaria 42, Finland 3 in Helsinki (WCQ Europe Rnd 1)

Andorra 23, Norway 9 in Bergan (WCQ Europe Rnd 1)

 

[thescrum.co.uk]

Parker Pen Cup, Europe.


El Cetransa UEMC El Salvador recorded a rare European Challenge Cup victory for Spanish clubs when they thumped Overmach Parma 36-12 on Sunday.



The home-team were superior to the Italians throughout the match. They completely dominated the first half to take a 26-0 lead into the break. Parma fought back after the break but could only close the gap by two points as El Salvador coasted home.

The magnitude of the win augurs well for El Salvador, who travel to Italy for the return-leg next Saturday.

The news was less favourable for compatriots VRAC Quesos Entrepinares, however, who were hammered at home by Italy's Viadana, 3-86.

 

[bayrep]

Its a pity we never get to see some of these games highlights would be fine.