The 2018

Rugby Europe Championship The Rugby Europe International Championships is the European Championship for tier 2 and tier 3 rugby union nations. The tournament is split into 5 levels, each with 5 or 6 teams. Its highest level is now called the Rugby Europe Championship an ...

is the premier

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

competition outside of the Six Nations Championship in Europe. This is the second season under its new format, that saw

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

compete for the title. This year's edition of the Rugby Europe Championship also served as a key stage of the European region qualification process for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

. The team with the best record across the 2017 and 2018 Championships qualified as Europe 1. As Georgia have already secured qualification automatically, results involving that team are discarded for the purposes of Rugby World Cup qualification. Both the Championship and the Qualification Process were heavily affected by controversial disciplinary issues involving player eligibility and the selection of neutral officials (namely, Romanian referee Vlad Iordachescu in Belgium-Spain). In respect of matters relating to the eligibility of players, following a full review of the evidence, including statements and submissions from

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

Rugby Europe Rugby Europe is the administrative body for rugby union in Europe. It was formed in 1999 to promote, develop, organise, and administer the game of rugby in Europe under the authority of World Rugby (the sport's global governing body). However, it ...

, Belgium, Romania, Spain and Russia, the independent committee found: * Belgium had fielded one or more ineligible players on 7 occasions during the 2017 and 2018 Rugby Europe Championships (of which 6 matches related to Rugby World Cup 2019 qualifying); * Romania has fielded one ineligible player on 8 occasions during the 2017 and 2018 Rugby Europe Championships (of which 6 matches related to Rugby World Cup 2019 qualifying); * Spain had fielded one or more ineligible players on 9 occasions during the 2017 and 2018 Rugby Europe Championships (of which 8 matches related to Rugby World Cup 2019 qualifying). In respect of sanctions, pursuant to Regulation 18, the independent committee determined the following: The deduction of 5 points for any match in which a union fielded an ineligible player. in practice this meant the following * 40-point deduction for Spain * 30-point deduction for Belgium; * 30-point deduction for Romania. Therefore, based on a re-modelling of the Rugby Europe Championship tables in the context of Rugby World Cup 2019 qualifying, Russia would qualify as Europe 1 into Pool A replacing Romania and Germany will replace Spain in the European play-off against Portugal. Georgia's victory in the 2018 Rugby Europe Championship itself was unaffected. Germany's proposed promotion/relegation play-off with Portugal, however, becomes a Romania-Portugal play-off. Ironically, Germany would now face Portugal in the Rugby World Cup European qualification play-off.

Table

Fixtures

Week 1

---- ----

Week 2

---- ----

Week 3

---- ----

Week 4

---- ----

Week 5

---- ----

Relegation/promotion play-off

References

External links

Rugby Europe official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Championship 2017-18 2017–18 Rugby Europe International Championships 2017–18 in Belgian rugby union 2017–18 in Spanish rugby union 2017–18 in German rugby union 2018 in Russian rugby union 2018 in Georgian sport 2017–18 in Romanian rugby union

Table

Fixtures

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Relegation/promotion play-off

See also

References

External links