Luxembourg's Men’s 7s team faced disappointment with a 10th place finish in the Rugby Europe Trophy, while the U18s celebrated a remarkable 2nd place in Poland.
It was a weekend of many emotions as Luxembourg’s Mens 7s and U18 7s teams both travelled abroad to participate in the Rugby Europe Trophy competitions, the former to Budapest, Hungary and the latter to Zabki, Poland.
After a strong showing in Zagreb a month ago, where they finished 4th, the Luxembourg Men’s 7s team looked to push on from their successes. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case as they disappointingly ended the tournament in 10th place. The draw was not favourable as they were placed in a very difficult group alongside Poland, Israel and Sweden. A lackluster performance against a physical and skillful Polish side ended in a 36-7 loss. A more convincing performance against Israel, a 19-7 victory, meant the Luxembourg Men's 7s team were able to give themselves a shot at heading into the quarter-finals, setting up an all or nothing game against Sweden.
The crescendo of the day's performances came in a very tightly contested match against the eventual tournament winners. Luxembourg looked much more assertive in their play and put a lot of pressure on the Swedes. However, they agonisingly lost with the last play of the game, 14-12. This meant that they missed out on the quarter-finals and would compete for the 9th-12th positions on day two.
Luxembourg was once again faced with Israel as opponents. After trailing 12-0 at half-time, they showed true character to make a comeback and win 14-12. The tournament ended on a low as they lost 19-0 to Turkey, seemingly underestimating their opposition. Captain Christian Olsen summed the performances up fittingly, there were ‘moments of brilliance but we struggled to capitalise on opportunities.’
The Rugby Europe Trophy has now concluded and Luxembourg finished 7th overall (19th in Europe) after finishing 4th in Zagreb and 10th in Budapest. Coach Benedetti has a very talented group of players, when everybody is fully fit and available, at his disposal so the future is bright!
Players that will be looking to pique Benedetti’s interest for future selection are the U18s, who put in a stellar performance in Poland and were able to finish 2nd, narrowly losing to the hosts in the final. Making this the most successful finish for a Luxembourgish U18s team.
