The 2010 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship was the seventh annual international rugby union competition for Under 18 national

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 ...

teams in Europe.2010 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship official website – History
accessed: 1 May 2010 The event was organised by rugby's European governing body, the

FIRA – Association of European Rugby 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 ...

(FIRA-AER). U18 – 2010 FIRA-AER Justin Bridou European Championship
FIRA-AER website, accessed: 1 May 2010 The competition was contested by 24 men's junior national teams and was held in late March and early April 2010. It was hosted by the Italian

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

Veneto it, Veneto (man) it, Veneta (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

, with the final played at the home ground of Benetton Treviso.2010 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship official website – Stadiums
accessed: 1 May 2010 The tournament was won by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, who won its fifth European championship and its fourth in a row, with

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

finishing runners-up.2010 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship official website – Fixtures
accessed: 1 May 2010 It was sponsored by French company Justin Bridou and therefore officially called the ''2010 Justin Bridou European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship''.

Overview

History

The European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship was first held in 2004, in

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...

, Italy. It replaced the previously held European Under-18 Emergent Nations Championship, which had first been held in 2000. The first championship in 2004 was won by France. The following two championships, held in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

, France, in 2005 and again in Treviso in 2006, were won by

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Alternating between France and Italy, the next four championships were held in Biarritz, Treviso again,

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

and once more in Treviso in 2010. All four were taken out by France, but of Europes top rugby playing nations, England,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

did not take part in the latest edition.

Format

The championship, similar to previous editions, was organised in an A, B and C Division, with A being the highest and C the lowest. Each division consisted of eight teams and each team played three competition games, with a quarter final, semi final and final/placing game. The quarter finals were played according to a seeding list, with the winners moving on to the first to fourth place semi finals while the losers would enter the fifth to eighth place semi finals. The winners of the semi finals one to four would play in the division final while the losers would play for third place. Similarly, the winners of the fifth to eighth semi finals would play for fifth place while the losers would play for seventh. The winner of the A division was crowned European champions while the eighth placed team would be relegated to the B division. Similarly, the winner of B and C division would move up a division for 2011 while the last placed teams would be relegated. This meant, France was crowned European champions while Romania finished on the relegation spot. Portugal won the B division and earned promotion while the Ukraine was relegated and replaced by Sweden, the C champions.

Venues

The games of the 2010 championship were played at five different locations and stadiums: *

Casale sul Sile Casale sul Sile is a ''comune'' with c. 13,000 inhabitants in the province of Treviso in the Veneto, north-eastern Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It ...

– ''Stadio Comunale Giovanni Eugenio'' *

Conegliano Conegliano (; Venetian: ''Conejan'') is a town and ''comune'' of the Veneto region, Italy, in the province of Treviso, about north by rail from the town of Treviso. The population of the city is of people. The remains of a 10th-century castle a ...

– ''Stadio Comunale'' *

San Donà di Piave San Donà di Piave (; vec, San Donà ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, northern Italy. It is one of the historical main towns of the ''Eastern Veneto'' territory, although it was totally reconstructed in the ...

– ''Stadio Mario e Romolo Pacifici'' *

San Michele al Tagliamento San Michele al Tagliamento is an Italian Municipality with 11,930 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, Italy. SS14, one of the main State Highways (Italy), passes through the commune, whose ''frazione'' of Bibione is a popula ...

– ''Impianto sportivo Malafesta'' *

– '' Stadio Comunale di Monigo''

Changes for 2011

The 2011 edition of the championship is scheduled to see a return of the absent three home nations, England, Scotland and Wales. For this purpose, the A division will be enlarged to twelve teams, while B and C remain at their current strength.

D Division

The D division forms the fourth level, below the C division, of European Under-18 rugby. In 2010, only four teams compete at this level, at a tournament held at Chișinău,

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

, from 19 to 22 May 2010. It consists of the teams of Moldova, Israel, Croatia and Norway.U18 – 2010 Group D
FIRA-AER website, accessed: 2 May 2010

Teams and final standings

The participating teams and their final standings were:2010 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship official website – Standings
accessed: 1 May 2010

Games

The results of the games:

A Division

Championship

Relegation

B Division

Championship

Relegation

The Switzerland versus Ukraine game was tied after regular time and was decided by penalty kicks.

C Division

Championship

Relegation

The Denmark versus Austria game was tied after regular time and was decided by penalty kicks.FIRA – AER website – Denmark versus Austria game
accessed: 1 May 2010

D Division

Held at a different time and location as the other three divisions, in Moldova, these are the results:

References

External links

FIRA-AER official website
*
2010 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Under-18 2010

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

2009–10 in European rugby union 2009–10 in Italian rugby union International rugby union competitions hosted by Italy

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 ...