Rugby Europe International Championships

Rugby Europe International Championships

Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 Rugby Europe International Championships
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	1936 (predecessors) 2023 (current format)
No. of teams	See below
Continent	Europe / Rugby Europe
Most recent champion(s)	Georgia
Most titles	France (25)  Georgia (16)  Romania (10)

The tournament is split into 5 levels, each with 5 or 6 teams. Its highest level is now called the Rugby Europe Championship and, unofficially, referred to as the Six Nations B. All levels play on a one-year cycle, replacing the old format of a two-year cycle, with the teams playing each other both home and away. From September 2016, there will still be an annual champion, however a format change means each year sees teams promoted and relegated between the levels.

International championships before 2000

Following the exclusion of France from the Five Nations Tournament after the 1931 edition, France joined with Italy, Romania, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Netherlands, and Catalonia to create the International Amateur Rugby Federation (FIRA, now Rugby Europe) as an alternative to the International Rugby Football Board (now World Rugby). Three tournaments were held from 1936 to 1938, with France winning all three. Following the Second World War, France was readmitted into the Five Nations Championship, but they also competed in the only two tournaments organised by FIRA, the Rugby Union European Cup, held in 1952 and 1954, winning them both.

From 1965, FIRA attempted to revitalise the European competition by creating the FIRA Nations Cup (1965-1973) and then the FIRA Trophy (1973-1997); however, France fielded a France A side made up mostly of university students.^{[citation needed]} While the French students won many of the tournaments, Romania also had their share of tournament titles. In the late 1990s, the championship became irregular, with some editions not taking place because of qualifications for the World Cup. Finally, the European Nations Cup began in 2000, no longer including France and Italy, as they now played in the reformed Six Nations Championship.

European Nations Cup: initial format (since 2000)

 

After the setup of the divisional system in 2000, Romania won the first competition with maximum points, The initial season also included Morocco.

Russia then replaced Morocco in 2001 when Georgia secured the title and were crowned champions after a 31–20 win over Romania in Bucharest. As the competition format changed from a one-year tournament to two-years, the Netherlands were not relegated after this season.

Romania started 2002 trailing Georgia after the 2001 results, but managed to win all of the remaining five games, including a 31–23 victory in Tbilisi.

Portugal were 16–15 winners over Romania in Lisbon and installed themselves at the top of the 2003–04 table. In the second half of the competition, Romania won 36–6 against Portugal in Constanța, but went down 24–33 to Russia in Krasnodar. Then Portugal clinched their first title with a last-minute 19–18 home win over Russia. The Russia – Czech Republic game was rescheduled due to bad weather and was eventually cancelled.

The 2005–06 championships also served as a qualifying pool for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Romania triumphed finishing level on points with Georgia, while Ukraine were relegated after losing all matches.

The 2007–08 edition saw the return of the Spanish to the top division. The winners were Georgia, following their display at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The Russians recorded their best ever placement, finishing in second. The Czech Republic were the team to finish on the bottom of the table, losing all of their matches, relegating them back to Division 2A.

A new format was decided at the beginning of 2009. Each calendar year had its own champion, but the cumulated ranking over two years determined which team was relegated. The 2009–10 edition was also basis for European qualification to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The 2009 season saw the début of Germany in the top division, Georgia defended their title, and there were wins for Portugal and Russia in Bucharest.

Faced with the possibility of missing a Rugby World Cup for the first time, Romania were managed the 2010 title. This feat was however not enough to overtake Georgia and Russia, who helped by their good results from the previous year, gained the automatic qualification for the 2011 RWC, leaving Romania to go through the Play-Off Qualification Rounds. Germany were relegated after failing to win any games.

Georgia won the 2011 edition, after beating Romania 18–11 in Tbilisi. The promoted team, Ukraine, lost all but one of their matches, single win over Portugal.

European Nations Cup: second format (from 2010 to 2016)

For the 2010–2012 competition (and promotion and relegation between groups going forward to successive competitions), the top two divisions (previously 1 and 2A) were redefined as 1A and 1B, both having six teams (previously six and five). The next four levels (previously 2B, 3A, 3B and 3C) become 2A-2D, under the new system, with the remnants of Division 3D making up the initial group of teams labelled as Division 3. In principle, each division is to encompass a different type of competition.

In Division 1, groups have six teams (meaning more matches and thus more travel), a significant fraction of the players are assumed to be professional or semi-professional (meaning that fixtures are, as often as possible, scheduled within the IRB's international fixtures time windows when clubs must release players for national duty), and only one team is promoted and one relegated every two years (meaning that the competitions are more stable).

In Division 2, groups have only five teams each (usually meaning one home match and one away match in the Autumn, and the same in the Spring, for each team), it is assumed that the majority of players are amateurs (meaning scheduling is not as limited), and in addition to the traditional automatic first-promoted-last-relegated system, fourth place from the higher pool will play second place from the lower pool after every two-year competition, with the winner taking the position in the higher pool. From a five-team group, one team is promoted, one team is relegated and two teams play in playoffs. Thus, a maximum of four of a pool's five teams could change from one two-year competition to the next.

In Division 3, a single-location, short-time-period (one week or 10 days) tournament is organised once per year. This minimises travel costs for teams and time-off-work requirements for players, and allows the flexibility of having a different membership every year, rather than requiring the membership to be constant over two years. The best performing team over two years of tournaments is promoted to Division 2.

In the year of transition to the new system (2010), there were no relegations from any division below the highest, because the second-highest (old 2A, new 1B) was expanded by one team.

International Championships: third format (from 2016 to 2022)

From September 2016, the European Nations Cup became the Rugby Europe International Championships, made up of five levels or divisions:

• Level 1 - Championship. The top six ranked European teams outside the Six Nations contest the annual title. Replaces the former Division 1A.
• Level 2 - Trophy. The next six ranked European teams bid for the Trophy title. Replaces the former Division 1B.
• Level 3 - Conference 1. Division 2, A through to D, becomes the new Conference level, where twenty teams are separated into two Conferences made up of ten teams each, based on their previous year rankings. Each conference is then split into two, North and South, where teams could change each year depending on the competing teams - nations closest to boundary moved from North to South and vice versa each season as necessary to geographically balance the conferences.
• Level 4 - Conference 2
• Level 5 - Development. Replaces Division 3.

The Trophy, Conference and Development divisions have normally been held across the turn of the year, in the autumn and winter of one year and the spring of the next. The Championship has usually been held in the spring, concurrent with the second half of the lower three divisions (and also concurrent with the Six Nations Championship).

A promotion and relegation play-off system is maintained across all levels every year, moving away from the two-year system in place since 2003, meaning teams will be promoted and relegated every year.

In the 2020-2021 season, due to the worldwide COVID-19 epidemic, the lower divisions were not held, and much of the 2021 Championship division was delayed, being held over the whole of 2021 (thus, its last matches overlapped with the following 2021-2022 season of the lower divisions). Thus, there was no promotion/relegation between the divisions, including between the Championship and Trophy, following the 2020-2021 season: promotion/relegation resumed following the 2022 Championship (which was held on-time) and the 2021-2022 Trophy, Conference and Development divisions. The structure was slightly changed after 2022, to increase the Championship division to eight rather than six teams: furthermore, Russia (who had played, and lost, their first two matches), were disqualified and banned from the 2022 Championship and from all international rugby until further notice, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine after having played two matches of the 2022 season: their three remaining matches in the 2022 Championship were awarded to their opponents (Portugal, Georgia and Netherlands), by walkover.

Qualification for three European spots in the 2023 Rugby World Cup was determined by the collective results of the 2021 and 2022 Championships added together, which (thanks to the fact of no promotion and relegation following the 2021 season, and the lower divisions not being played at all) formed a full home-and-away round-robin between the six nations of the Championship. The top two teams would qualify as Europe 1 and Europe 2: the third-place team, as Europe 3, would enter the final qualification tournament along with Africa 3 (Kenya), Americas 3 (USA) and the loser of the Asia/Pacific play-off (Hong Kong). Russia's expulsion mattered little, since they had lost all but two of their matches anyway (both in the 2021 season). However, the issue of ineligible players raised its head again, though not to the extent it had in the 2019 qualification: Spain, who had been fourth in 2021 but second in 2022 and were in fact in second place over the collective two years, were penalised 10 points - five in each season - for fielding an ineligible player in two matches. Georgia were far ahead in first place, with 9 wins and 1 draw over the two years: Spain's discomfiture resulted in Romania qualifying directly from the Championship in second place, and Portugal being in third place for the final intercontinential qualifier. Portugal won that tournament to qualify for the World Cup.

Addittionaly, Rugby Europe made changes to the bonus points system. The standard system, that is applied in the Six Nations Championship was discarded in favour of the French system. The main difference is that where previously a team would be awarded 1 try bonus point for scoring (at least) 4 tries, regardless of the outcome, and whereas now, a team would be awarded 1 "bonus" point for winning while scoring at least the equivalent of 3 or more tries than their opponent.

International Championships: third format (2022)

From October 2022, the Rugby Europe International Championships, made up of five levels or divisions:

• Level 1 - Championship. The top eight ranked European teams outside the Six Nations contest the annual title.
• Level 2 - Trophy. The next six (originally intended, ended up as five) ranked European teams bid for the Trophy title.
• Level 3 - Conference 1
• Level 4 - Conference 2
• Level 5 - Development

A statement was released by the Polish Rugby Union in December 2021 confirming that the Rugby Europe Championship, will expand to 8 teams in 2022/2023 season. To accommodate this expansion, no team will be relegated from the top tier, while two teams from the second tier Trophy Championship will be promoted following the completion of the 2021/2022 Championship. The serpentine system is applied to allocate each team to their respective groups. Each team will play a total of five games (three round robin group matches to detremine the team's path and two play-off matches). Seeding (for group) and relegation is calculated over a two year cycle, as is the promotion from Trophy competition.

This was further altered by Russia's expulsion from international sport following the invasion of Ukraine, which left only five teams from those who had contested the 2022 Championship. Three teams, rather than the originally intended two, were promoted from the Trophy - Belgium, Germany and Poland: and the Trophy, in 2022-23, thus contained only five teams rather than the previous six, even with the promotion of Sweden and Croatia from the Conference to join Ukraine, Lithuania and Croatia.

A relegation system is maintained across all levels two-year, moving away from the one-year system in place since 2016, meaning teams will be promoted and relegated every two year.

International Championships: new format (from 2023)

From 2023, the Rugby Europe International Championships, made up of four levels or divisions:

• Level 1 - Championship. The top eight ranked European teams outside the Six Nations contest the annual title. For the 2024 Championship, these were the same eight teams as in 2023.
• Level 2 - Trophy. The next six ranked European teams bid for the Trophy title. (The five teams from the 2022-23 season were joined by the previous year's Conference champions, the Czech Republic.)
• Level 3 - Conference. Former Conference 1 and Conference 2 combined to one level, in four groups.
• Level 4 - Development

A statement was released by the Polish Rugby Union in June 2023, confirming that the Rugby Europe Conference 1 and Conference 2 will be combined to one level. Teams with ambitions of climbing up the rugby pyramid can compete in a play-off to the Trophy after submitting their intentions to Rugby Europe where an assessment on various aspects will be made after winning their respective pool.

Championship Final Standings   Georgia   Portugal   Romania   Spain   Netherlands   Germany   Belgium   Poland	Trophy Pl W Pts    Switzerland 5 5 22   Sweden 5 4 18   Czech Republic ↑ 5 3 14   Croatia 5 2 11   Lithuania 5 1 4   Ukraine 5 0 0
Conference Pool A Pl W Pts   Latvia 4 3 15   Denmark 4 2 12   Finland 3 2 9   Andorra 3 1 5   Norway 2 0 0	Conference Pool B Pl W Pts   Luxembourg 4 4 19   Hungary 4 2 11   Austria 4 2 10   Slovenia 4 1 8   Bosnia and Herzegovina 4 0 1	Conference Pool C Pl W Pts   Moldova 2 2 9   Bulgaria 2 2 9   Turkey 3 1 4   Serbia 3 0 0	Conference Pool D Pl W Pts   Malta 1 1 4   Cyprus 1 0 1   Israel 0 0 0
Development Pl W Pts   Montenegro ↓ 2 1 5   Kosovo 2 1 4

Updated through 20 April 2024

FIRA Tournaments (1936–1938)

Year	Host city	Winner	Runner-up	Third place
1936	Berlin	France	Germany	Italy
1937	Paris	France	Italy	Germany
1938	Bucharest	France	Germany	Romania

Rugby Union European Cup (1952–1954)

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Third place
1952	France	Italy	West Germany
1954	France	Italy	Spain

FIRA Nations Cup (1965–1973)

Year	First Division				Second Division
	Winner	Runner-up	Third	Relegated	Winner
1965–66	France	Italy	Romania	Czechoslovakia	Portugal
1966–67	France	Romania	Italy	Portugal	Czechoslovakia
1967–68	France	Romania	Czechoslovakia	—	Poland
1968–69	Romania	France	Czechoslovakia	West Germany   Poland	Italy
1969–70	France	Romania	Italy	Czechoslovakia	Morocco
1970–71	France	Romania	Morocco	Italy	Czechoslovakia
1971–72	France	Romania	Morocco	Czechoslovakia	Spain
1972–73	France	Romania	Spain	—	Portugal

FIRA Trophy (1973–1997)

Year	First Division				Lower Division Champions
	Winner	Runner-up	Third	Relegated	Second Division	Third Division
1973–74	France	Romania	Spain	Poland   Morocco	Italy	Not held
1974–75	Romania	France	Italy	Czechoslovakia	Poland
1975–76	France	Italy	Romania	Netherlands	Morocco   Czechoslovakia
1976–77	Romania	France	Italy	Morocco	Czechoslovakia	Belgium
1977–78	France	Romania	Spain	Czechoslovakia	Soviet Union	Not held
1978–79	France	Romania	Soviet Union	Spain	Morocco
1979–80	France	Romania	Italy	Morocco	Spain	Tunisia
1980–81	Romania	France	Soviet Union	Poland	West Germany	Portugal
1981–82	France	Italy	Romania	—	Morocco	Sweden
1982–83	Romania	Italy	Soviet Union	West Germany	Poland	Czechoslovakia
1983–84	France	Romania	Italy	Poland   Morocco	Spain   Tunisia	Not held
1984–85	France	Soviet Union	Italy	Spain	Portugal	Netherlands
1985–87	France	Soviet Union	Romania	Tunisia   Portugal	Spain	Not held
1987–89	France	Soviet Union	Romania	Spain	Poland	Bulgaria
1989–90	France A	Soviet Union	Romania	Poland	Spain	Andorra
1990–92	France A	Italy	Romania	—	Germany   Morocco	Sweden
1992–94	France A	Italy	Romania	—	Poland   Croatia	Georgia   Moldova
1995–97	Italy	France A	Romania	—	Netherlands   Serbia and Montenegro	Ukraine   Hungary   Austria