From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

European Nations Cup
2007-2008 European Nations Cup First Division
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	2000
No. of teams	See below
Country(ies)	Europe
Most recent champion(s)	Romania

The European Nations Cup, also referred to as the "Six Nations B" or simply ENC, is a second-level competition for European rugby union nations, some of which where it is still an amateur sport. It is administered by FIRA-AER.

Despite the name the European Nations Cup is in fact a series of 7 divisions of 5-6 teams with promotion and relegation between them. There is, however, at present little prospect of any of the teams being promoted to the Six Nations as the gap in terms of playing standards is probably too big. Division One usually uses the same weekends as the Six Nations Championship; other divisions play throughout the year.

Initially started as one-year competition, the championship is now decided over two years with each team playing each other home and away. The format change occurred at the end of the 2001 championship. Georgia is still regarded as the 2001 winner, but the results from that season count in the final standings of the 2001-2002 tournament.

Contents 1 History 2 Current divisions 3 The thirties: the first three tournaments 4 The fifties: the European Cup 5 The Nations Cup 1966-1973 6 The FIRA Trophy 1974-1997 7 First Division championships 7.1 2000 7.2 2001 7.3 2001-2002 7.4 2003-2004 7.5 2004-2006 8 Results by nation 9 See also 10 External links

After the setup of the division system in 2000, Romania won the first such competition by a large margin, recording victories in all four matches. Georgia secured the title after a consistent performance, crowned with a decisive 31-20 win over Romania in Bucharest. As the competition format changed from one-year to two-years, Holland was not relegated after this season. Romania started in 2002 trailing Georgia after 2001 results, but managed to win all of the remaining five games, including a hard-fought 31-23 victory in Tbilisi.

Portugal were surprise 16-15 winners over Romania in Lisbon and installed themselves on the top of the 2003 table. In the second half of the competition, Romania seemed back on track (36-6 against Portugal in Constanţa), but went down 24-33 to Russia in Krasnodar. Then Portugal clinched their first title with a last-minute 19-18 win over Russia in Lisbon. The Russia - Czech Republic game was rescheduled due to bad weather and was eventually cancelled. The 2004-06 championships was also serving as a qualifiying group for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Romania triumphed despite finishing level on points with Georgia, while Ukraine were relegated after losing all matches.

Division 1  Czech Republic  Georgia  Portugal  Romania  Russia  Spain	Division 2A  Belgium  Germany  Moldova  Netherlands  Ukraine	Division 2B  Andorra  Croatia  Latvia  Malta  Poland
Division 3A  Armenia  Denmark  Serbia  Sweden  Switzerland	Division 3B  Austria  Norway  Lithuania  Hungary  Bulgaria	Division 3C  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Finland  Israel  Luxembourg  Slovenia	Division 3D  Azerbaijan  Cyprus  Greece  Monaco  Slovakia

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

Year	Winner	Second place	Third place
1952	France	Italy	West Germany
1954	France	Italy	Spain

Year	Winner	Second place	Third place
1965/1966	France	Italy	Romania
1966/1967	France	Romania	Italy
1967/1968	France	Romania	Czechoslovakia
1968/1969	Romania	France	Czechoslovakia
1969/1970	France	Romania	Italy
1970/1971	France	Romania	Morocco
1971/1972	France	Romania	Morocco
1972/1973	France	Romania	Spain

Year	Winner	Second place	Third place
1973/1974	France	Romania	Spain
1974/1975	Romania	France	Italy
1975/1976	France	Italy	Romania
1976/1977	Romania	France	Italy
1977/1978	France	Romania	Spain
1978/1979	France	Romania	USSR
1979/1980	France	Romania	Italy
1980/1981	Romania	France	USSR
1981/1982	France	Italy	Romania
1982/1983	Romania	Italy	USSR
1983/1984	France	Romania	Italy
1984/1985	France	USSR	Italy
1985/1987	France	USSR	Romania
1987/1989	France	USSR	Romania
1989/1990	France	USSR	Romania
1990/1992	France	Italy	Romania
1992/1994	France	Italy	Romania
1995/1997	Italy	France	Romania

Country	GP	W	D	L	+/-	Pts
Romania	4	4	0	0	120-39	12
Georgia	4	2	0	2	125-95	8
Spain	4	2	0	2	94-86	8
Portugal	4	1	0	3	65-97	5
Netherlands	4	1	0	3	37-124	5

Country	GP	W	D	L	+/-	Pts
Georgia	5	5	0	0	167-68	15
Romania	5	4	0	1	152-143	13
Russia	5	3	0	2	118-128	11
Spain	5	2	0	3	118-128	9
Portugal	5	1	0	4	77-165	7
Netherlands	5	0	0	5	57-184	5

Country	GP	W	D	L	+/-	Pts
Romania	10	9	0	1	373-148	28
Georgia	10	8	1	1	351-152	27
Russia	10	6	1	3	332-230	23
Spain	10	3	0	7	246-247	16
Portugal	10	3	0	7	170-295	16
Netherlands	10	0	0	10	84-484	10

Country	GP	W	D	L	+/-	Pts
Portugal	10	9	0	1	245-180	28
Romania	10	8	0	2	320-123	26
Georgia	10	5	1	4	193-148	21
Russia	10	4	0	6	198-175	15
Czech Republic	10	3	0	7	139-263	15
Spain	10	0	1	9	129-335	11

Country	GP	W	D	L	+/-	Pts
Romania	10	8	0	2	294	26
Georgia	10	8	0	2	228	26
Portugal	10	6	1	3	20	23
Russia	10	4	1	5	88	19
Czech Republic	10	3	0	7	-131	16
Ukraine	10	0	0	10	-499	10

Team	First place	Second place	Third place
France	25	5
Romania	8	14	8
Italy	1	8	8
Georgia	1	2	2
Portugal	1		1
USSR		4	3
Spain		2	4
Germany*		1	3
Morocco			3
Czechoslovakia			2
Russia			2

• Includes the third placed finish by West Germany in 1952

• Antim Cup
• FIRA - Association of European Rugby
• Six Nations Championship

• FIRA-AER website

v • d • e International Rugby Union
IRB • FIRA–AER • World Cup • World Cup Sevens • U-19 World Championship • U-21 World Championship • Africa Cup • Asian Five Nations • CAR Super 16 • Churchill Cup • European Nations Cup • Four Nations • Nations Cup • Pacific Nations Cup • Pan American • Sevens World Series • Six Nations • Super Cup • Tri Nations • IRB World Rankings