The 2009

European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship The Rugby Europe Under-18 Championship is an annual rugby union championship for Under-18 national teams, held since 2004. The championship is organised by rugby's European governing body, Rugby Europe.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 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 Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

.2010 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship official website - History
accessed: 5 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 - 2009 FIRA-AER Justin Bridou European Championship
FIRA-AER website, accessed: 5 May 2010 The competition was contested by 32 men's junior national teams and was held in early April 2009. It was hosted by the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

region of Var -

Côte d'Azur The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation "Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

, with the final held in

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 ...

. The tournament was won by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

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

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 ...

finishing runners-up. The tournament marked forty years of international age grade rugby on the European continent, 1969 having been the year when the first European Under 19 competition was held.Forty years of age grade growth in Europe
IRB website, published: 16 April 2009, accessed: 5 May 2010 It was sponsored by French company Justin Bridou and therefore officially called the ''2009 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 Vene ...

, 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 No ...

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

. Alternating between France and Italy, the next three championships were held in

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spa ...

, Treviso again, and Toulon in 2009. All three were taken out by France, but of Europes top rugby playing nations,

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 country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

did not take part in the latest editions.

Format

The championship, similar to previous editions, was organised in an A, B, C and D Division, with A being the highest and D 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 originally be relegated to the B division. Similarly, the winner of B, C and D division would move up a division for 2010 while the last placed teams would nominally be relegated. This meant, France was crowned European champions while

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

finished on the relegation spot, but was reprieved of relegation by England choosing not to participate in the 2010 tournament.

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 betwee ...

won the B division,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

the C division and

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

the D. The last placed teams, for the same reason as Italy, were all spared relegation, too. With a

Selection, a non-national team took part to provide even numbers in all four divisions. With

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

and

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, two teams took part that hadn't taken part in previous editions and would not do so again in 2010, while

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

, which had played the previous two tournaments, did also not take part in 2010. The teams of England, Italy and Ireland at the tournament were ''B'' selections, as these nations had committed themselves to an Under-18 Festival in

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second m ...

, where Wales and Scotland also took part. The French team however opted to take part in the European Championship instead.

Venues

The games of the 2009 championship were played at the following locations: *

Hyères Hyères (), Provençal Occitan: ''Ieras'' in classical norm, or ''Iero'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. The old town lies from the sea clustered arou ...

Draguignan Draguignan (; oc, Draguinhan) is a commune in the Var department in the administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (formerly Provence), southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department and self-proclaimed "capital of A ...

* Saint-Raphaël *

La Londe-les-Maures La Londe-les-Maures (; oc, La Lònda dei Mauras) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by ph ...

* La Valette-du-Var *

La Seyne-sur-Mer La Seyne-sur-Mer (; "La Seyne on Sea"; oc, La Sanha), or simply La Seyne, is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 62,888. La Seyne-sur-Mer, which is ...

Six-Fours-les-Plages Six-Fours-les-Plages (; oc, Sièis Forns lei Plaias, Sièis Four in provençal), is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Inhabitants of Six-Fours-les-Plages refer to themselves as "S ...

Teams and final standings

The participating teams and their final standings were:

Games

The results of the games:

A Division

Championship

Relegation

B Division

Championship

Relegation

C Division

Championship

* The Hungary Sweden semi final was decided on number of tries scored, which Sweden won 3-2.

Relegation

D Division

Championship

Relegation

* Quarter-final awarded to Israel after problems linked to Monacos players eligibility. * Quarter and semi final awarded to opposition after problems linked to Côte d'Azur Selection players eligibility.

References

External links

FIRA-AER official website

U18 - 2009 FIRA-AER Justin Bridou European Championship
FIRA-AER website {{DEFAULTSORT:Under-18

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

Sport in Var (department) 2008–09 in European rugby union 2008–09 in French rugby union International rugby union competitions hosted by France