2011 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship

2011 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship

Tournament details
Host nation	France
Dates	15 April 2011 – 24 April 2011
No. of nations	28
Final positions
Champions	Ireland
Runner-up	England
Tournament statistics
Matches played	40
← 2010 2012 →

The 2011 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship was the eighth annual international rugby union competition for Under 18 national rugby union teams in Europe. The event was organised by rugby's European governing body, the FIRA – Association of European Rugby (FIRA-AER). The competition was contested by 28 men's junior national teams and will be held in April 2011. It was hosted by the French region of Armagnac and Bigorre.^[1] The tournament was won by the under-18 team of Ireland, who took out the title for the first time, beating England in the final.^[2][3] For the first time, France did not reach the championship game and finished in fourth place only.

The tournament's defending champion was France, who had won five European championships and the last four in a row.^[4][5] The 2011 edition of the competition saw the introduction of an elite division, above division one, made up of four teams, France, England, Wales and Ireland. The divisions below remained unchanged. It marked the first time that all countries participating in the Six Nations Championship send a team to the European championship.^[1][6]

It was sponsored by French company Justin Bridou and therefore officially called the 2011 Justin Bridou European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship.^[1]

The European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship was first held in 2004, in Treviso, Italy. It replaced the previously held European Under-18 Emergent Nations Championship, which had first been held in 2000.^[5] The first championship in 2004 was won by France.^[4]

The following two championships, held in Lille, France, in 2005 and again in Treviso in 2006, were won by England. Alternating between France and Italy, the next four championships were held in Biarritz, Treviso again, Toulon and once more in Treviso in 2010. All four were won by France, but of Europe's top rugby playing nations, England, Wales and Scotland did not take part in the 2010 edition.^[4]

The 2011 edition saw the introduction of an Elite division, consisting of four teams, two of which, England and Wales, had not taken part in the 2010 competition or, in the case of Wales, never taken part in the European championship.^[1]

Below the elite level, the championship was organised in First, Second and Third Divisions, with First being the highest and Third the lowest. Each division consisted of eight teams and each team played three competition games, with a quarter-final, semi-final and final/placing game. The quarter-finals were played according to a seeding list, with the winners moving on to the first to fourth place semi-finals while the losers would enter the fifth to eighth place semi-finals.^[7]

The winner of the Elite division, Ireland, was crowned European champions while the fourth placed team was to be relegated to the First division. Similarly, the winner of the Second and Third divisions would move up a division for 2012 while the last placed teams would be relegated.

To determine the four teams playing in the Elite Division, a qualifying tournament was held between the Six Nations U-18 sides in late February and early March, with the teams drawn into two groups of three teams each. France and England won their groups, with Wales and Ireland finishing second, qualifying all four teams for the Elite Division. Italy and Scotland finished third, placing them in the First Division. For Italy, this was still a bonus as it obtained the second seed for the division, behind Scotland. After an unsuccessful 2010 tournament, where the team had finished only fifth, it would have been entitled to only the fifth seed otherwise. Scotland made a return to the European championship for the first time since 2006.^[8]

The games of the 2011 championship were played at venues in Armagnac and Bigorre, two regions in southern France.^[1] The first round of games in all divisions except the elite one was played on 16 April 2011. The elite division played their first games in Auch the following day. The second round was played on 19 April while the finals for all divisions were held on 22 and 23 April, with Division two and three playing on the 22 and the Elite and First Division on the 23.

The venues for the Elite Group where:

• Auch
• Tarbes

The D division forms the fourth level, below the Third division, of European Under-18 rugby. In 2011, only three teams compete at this level, at a separate tournament. It consists of the teams of Israel, Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina. The tournament was held independently of the other divisions on 14 April at Sinj, Croatia and won by the home nation.^[10][11]

The participating teams and their divisions are in order of their ranking after the tournament:^[7]

Pos Elite Division 1  Ireland 2  England 3  Wales 4  France

Pos First Division 1  Scotland 2  Italy 3  Georgia 4  Germany 5  Portugal 6  Belgium 7  Romania 8  Russia

Pos Second Division 1  Spain 2  Sweden 3  Lithuania 4  Czech Republic 5  Poland 6  Ukraine 7  Netherlands 8   Switzerland

Pos Third Division 1  Serbia 2  Hungary 3  Luxembourg 4  Latvia 5  Moldova 6  Denmark 7  Bulgaria 8  Austria

Pos D Division 1  Croatia 2  Bosnia and Herzegovina 3  Israel

The scheduled games:

The games of the elite division:^[12]

	Semi-finals					Final
	1	France	17
	4	Ireland	19
						4	Ireland	17
						2	England	8
	2	England	38
	3	Wales	34

	3rd Place Final
	1	France	6
	3	Wales	15

The games of the first division:^[13]

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	1	Scotland	65
	8	Romania	3
						1	Scotland	87
						5	Germany	3
	4	Belgium	11
	5	Germany	27
											1	Scotland	17
											2	Italy	12
	2	Italy	14
	7	Portugal	3
						2	Italy	36
						3	Georgia	16
	3	Georgia	38
	6	Russia	3

	3rd Place Final
	3	Georgia	40
	5	Germany	0

	Semi-finals					5th Place Final
	4	Belgium	19
	8	Romania	6
						4	Belgium	5
						7	Portugal	10
	6	Russia	7
	7	Portugal	8

	7th Place Final
	6	Russia	3
	8	Romania	11

The games of the second division:^[14]

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	1	Spain	50
	8	Ukraine	0
						1	Spain	52
						4	Czech Republic	20
	4	Czech Republic	67
	5	Switzerland	5
											1	Spain	47
											7	Sweden	7
	2	Netherlands	12
	7	Sweden	18
						7	Sweden	19
						6	Lithuania	10
	3	Poland	10
	6	Lithuania	12

	3rd Place Final
	4	Czech Republic	12
	6	Lithuania	15

	Semi-finals					5th Place Final
	2	Netherlands	17
	3	Poland	27
						3	Poland	41
						8	Ukraine	10
	5	Switzerland	5
	8	Ukraine	31

	7th Place Final
	2	Netherlands	34
	5	Switzerland	0

The games of the third division:^[15]

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final
	1	Hungary	66
	8	Bulgaria	11
						1	Hungary	27
						4	Luxembourg	17
	4	Luxembourg	51
	5	Denmark	0
											1	Hungary	7
											2	Serbia	13
	2	Serbia	13
	7	Moldova	0
						2	Serbia	12
						3	Latvia	5
	3	Latvia	15
	6	Austria	11

	3rd Place Final
	3	Latvia	7
	4	Luxembourg	12

	Semi-finals					5th Place Final
	5	Denmark	14
	8	Bulgaria	13
						5	Denmark	7
						7	Moldova	25
	6	Austria	0
	7	Moldova	32

	7th Place Final
	6	Austria	10
	8	Bulgaria	15

The European Championship final was held on 23 April at 18:30 at Tarbes and was broadcast live on Eurosport 2.^[16] The final was played in wet conditions and a well organised Ireland side went up 11-3 by half time. England's head coach, John Fletcher, conceded that it was a well-deserved Irish victory but that the game was an important lesson to learn and would help his players in their future development.^[2] For Ireland, which was, for the first time, represented by a schools team rather than a Club XV, captain Luke McGrath was the most influential figure on the field, scoring twelve points.^[3]

23 April 2011 18:30

Ireland	17–8	England
Try: McEllin 25' Pen: McGrath (4) 4', 11', 58', 61'	Report	Try: Hepburn 66' Pen: Slade 33'

Stade Maurice Trélut, Tarbes Referee: Arnaud Blondel (France)

Ireland: FB 15 Rory Scholes  15' RW 14 Conor McEllin  67' CT 13 Robbie Henshaw SF 12 Chris Farrell LW 11 Mark Roche FF 10 Stuart Olding  68' HB 9 Luke McGrath (c)  68' N8 8 Ryan Murphy OF 7 Dan Leavy BF 6 Donagh Lawler RL 5 Gavin Thornbury  40' LL 4 Jerry Sexton  15' TP 3 Ed Byrne HK 2 Bryan Byrne LP 1 Gordon Frayne  45' Substitutes: 16 Andrew Murphy 17 Thomas Ferrari 18 Christopher Taylor  45' 19 Luke Satchwell  15' 20 Mark Best 21 Jack O'Neill  40' 22 David Shanahan  68' 23 Rory Scannell  68' 24 Jack Fitzpatrick  24' 25 Cian O'Halloran  67' 26 Seamus Glynn Coach: Terry McMaster

England: FB 15 Jack Nowell RW 14 Tony Watson CT 13 Mark Jennings CT 12 Sam Hill LW 11 Jack Arnott  50' FH 10 Henry Slade  38' SH 9 Alex Day  38' N8 8 Jack Clifford OF 7 Matt Hankin  50' BF 6 David Sisi  45' RL 5 Dominic Barrow (c) LL 4 Tom Jubb TP 3 Daniel Herriot  45' HK 2 Nathan Morris  39' LP 1 Alec Hepburn Substitutions: 16 Max Crumpton 17 Tom Smallbone  45' 18 Scott Spurling  39' 19 Joe Robinson  45' 20 Joe Buckle  50' 21 James Lightfoot-Brown  38' 22 Will Hooley  38' 23 Marcus Webber  50' 24 Tom Stephenson Coach: John Fletcher

• FIRA-AER official website
• (in Italian and English) 2010 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship official website