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Day 2 in Lodz
9 sep 2018 0 kommentarer
So off we go with the quarter-finals. First it´s England against Portual. And it´s Portugal who take the lead with two lovely sidesteps. But England run away with their first touch of the ball. Portuguese winger then makes a break on the outside. 12 - 7 to Portugal at half-time.
Portugal continue to press and score again, England struggling. And that´s it; Portugal win 19 - 7, England offered very little..
Second out, Russia vs. France. France burst out of defence to score. Lot of talent on the Russian side and they interpass to score. Russia slicker passers, make it 14 -7 at the break. France cos back and close to 14 - 12 but it´s Russia again. France come back to score twice and just hold on to snatch victory. 24 - 21. One of the favourites gone.
Now we have the other favourite, Ireland, against Sweden with only 8 fit players. Sweden keep control for a couple of minutes but Ireland recover and score. Kick ahead by Sweden, not a good idea, Ireland run back and score. Then another and another in the corner, 26 -0 at the break. Speedster Conway adds another. But Sweden comes back and Alfred runs strongly to sco.re. Sweden attack but miss a certain score. Ireland two more at the end to make it 47 - 5.
Final quarter, Germany - Spain. Germany off the mark early with a 7-pointer but Spain equalise soon after. Stays that way until half-time. Germany finally break deadlock after 5 minutes and they hold on to win 14 - 7.
So that makes it Portugal - Germany and France - Ireland for the Cup semis. For places 5 - 8 it´s England - Spain and Russia - Sweden.
Now we move to the bottom four, starting with Poland - Italy. 7 - 7 at half-time, can go either way.. Polen batter the Italian line but Italy get the tries. 17 - 7 to them. Final game, Georgia too good for the young Welsh team, ending 28 - 5.
9th - 10th place Italy - Georgia, 11th - 12th Poland - Wales.
5th - 8th starts off with England -Spain. England get one early but Spain attack cleverly and make it all even. Blunder by England puts the Spaniards ahead. Another blunder and Spain into the break up 19 - 7. Spain continue to dominate and its 26 - 7. England get back to 14 behind. They get to within 2 but Spain hold out.
Now Sweden against Russia. After 2 minutes Russia score in the corner. Straight from the kick-off they get another to make it 12 - 0.. Standard passing to the wing gives Russia another. 19 - 0 with the second half to go. Russia does everything at high speed and always finds a gap. But Sweden holds their own for the last few minutes and Fredrik Austa runs away to score and convert. Final result 26 - 7 to Russia. Sweden will now meet England for 7th/8th place, Russia /Spain for 5th/6th.
Back to the cup semis: Germany start strongly and go 14 - 0 up at the break. Portugal reduce to 14 - 7, keep pressing but too late. Germany to the final.
Ireland mean business, score early on and convert. France have no answer and it´s 21 - 0 at half time. It´s final score 42 - 0 and Ireland looking very, very good. They meet Germany in the final, while Portugal meet France for third place.
Now it´s Poland - Wales for the bottom spot and it´s a fight to the death. Despite the fanatical support of the crowd in a desperate finish the Welsh get home 12 - 10.
One step up for Georgia - Italy. Georgia are technically an excellent team and they carve open the weary Italians at regular intervals. 24 - 0 at half-time but Italy finally get one back. Final score 31 - 12 and 9th place for Georgia.
England get two early tries but Sweden interpassing and Philip scores. Sweden keeps attacking and Tobbe gets room to run away. 12 - 12 at half time. Lovely long pass puts Bowen in for England. Then Tobbe is away, with Matt backing up to score. Easy kick missed, 17 -17. Sweden miss a throw-in, England take it and score. Sweden back, another lovely long pass and Matt is in again.
24 - 24 and sudden death. England drop out, retake pass out and score. Bad luck Sweden, another fine performance. England 7th, Sweden 8th , our best ever performance.
Moving up the rankings Russia takes on Spain for 5th place. Closely fought, 12 - 5 to Russia at half time. Russia speedy and clever in the second half but so are Spain and it goes to 26 - 17 for the Russians, who take 5th place.
Down to the last 4 and Portugal take on France. Portugal a technical and creative team who have the edge on France and deserved to win 26 - 14 for 3rd place.
Now the final. Can Ireland keep up their devastating form? After 30 seconds, yes, a first score. And after two minutes it´s 14 - 0. Devastating forechecking by Ireland, they snap up two more tries by halftime to make it 28 - 0. Ireland brought on all their reserves and Germany came more into the game, but the cup destination was already decided. 35 - 5 the final score. Ireland worthy European champions both for this round and over the whole season.
Total points over the four rounds:
Sweden 13 (11th)
Poland 10 (12th)
On points alone, Poland should be relegated, not Sweden. But there is some doubt as to what advantage is gained by being in charge of a GP-round. Expect Rugby Europe to determine this issue in the usual incompetent way. In terms of playing we kept our place at the GP-level, which was the original aim. A fine achievement by the Swedish team. To beat France and take England to sudden death is not something Sweden has ever achieved before.
Sweden was supported by Mr and Mrs Murphy from Dublin, Philip´s parents; Mr and Mrs Borg, Tobbe´s parents, Mr and Mrs Mabon, Bevo and Sully from Exiles and detective inspector Anders Svärd. Not many, but we were all in Swedish outfits and we did cheer loudly.
Swedish player of the tournament? Ian was outstanding on Day 1, Matt on Day 2 but Alfred Nordgren put in a consistently good performance over the two days.
HM Sr
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