2009 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship

File-FIRA U 18 Championship 2009.jpg 4 April 2009 11 April 2009 France 32 18 FRA 18 ENG 48 2008 2010 The 2009 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship was the sixth annual international rugby union competition for Under 18 national rugby union teams in Europe.2010 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship official website - History https://web.archive.org/web/20110313200250/http://mediaofficina.com/rugbyeu18/albo-doro/ 2011-03-13 accessed: 5 May 2010 The event was organised by rugby's European governing body, the FIRA – Association of European Rugby (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 region of Var - Côte d'Azur, with the final held in Toulon. The tournament was won by France, who won its fourth European championship and its third in a row, with England 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 https://web.archive.org/web/20100203040615/http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/regional/newsid%3D2030622.html 2010-02-03 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, 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, France, in 2005 and again in Treviso in 2006, were won by England. Alternating between France and Italy, the next three championships were held in Biarritz, Treviso again, and Toulon in 2009. All three were taken out by France, but of Europes top rugby playing nations, Wales and Scotland 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 finished on the relegation spot, but was reprieved of relegation by England choosing not to participate in the 2010 tournament. Germany won the B division, Czech Republic the C division and Luxembourg the D. The last placed teams, for the same reason as Italy, were all spared relegation, too. With a Côte d'Azur Selection, a non-national team took part to provide even numbers in all four divisions. With Armenia and Monaco, two teams took part that hadn't taken part in previous editions and would not do so again in 2010, while Bosnia and Herzegovina, 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, Italy, 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: Toulon Hyères Draguignan Saint-Raphaël La Londe-les-Maures La Valette-du-Var La Seyne-sur-Mer Six-Fours-les-Plages Teams and final standings The participating teams and their final standings were: Pos A Division 1 18 FRA 2 18 ENG 3 18 IRE 4 18 ROU 5 18 BEL 6 18 RUS 7 18 GEO 8 18 ITA Pos B Division 1 18 GER 2 18 POR 3 18 ESP 4 18 POL 5 18 NED 6 18 UKR 7 18 LTU 8 18 SUI Pos C Division 1 18 CZE 2 18 SWE 3 18 HUN 4 18 BUL 5 18 DEN 6 18 SRB 7 18 LAT 8 18 AUT Pos D Division 1 18 LUX 2 18 CRO 3 18 ARM 4 18 ISR 5 18 MDA 6 18 BIH 7 FRA Côte d'Azur Selection 8 18 MON Games The results of the games: A Division Championship Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final 40px 100px 18 FRA 59 18 BEL 5 18 ITA 13 18 ROU 27 18 IRE 32 18 RUS 5 18 ENG 60 18 GEO 3 18 FRA 78 18 ROU 3 18 IRE 0 18 ENG 7 18 FRA 20 18 ENG 19 3rd Place Final 40px 100px 18 IRE 51 18 ROU 10 Relegation Semi-finals 5th Place Final 40px 100px 18 BEL 28 18 ITA 9 18 RUS 18 18 GEO 17 18 BEL 18 18 RUS 7 7th Place Final 40px 100px 18 GEO 18 18 ITA 3 B Division Championship Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final 40px 100px 18 ESP 69 18 SUI 12 18 POR 39 18 UKR 0 18 POL 20 18 LTU 13 18 GER 31 18 NED 0 18 ESP 14 18 POR 15 18 POL 0 18 GER 27 18 POR 3 18 GER 11 3rd Place Final 40px 100px 18 ESP 43 18 POL 10 Relegation Semi-finals 5th Place Final 40px 100px 18 SUI 6 18 UKR 15 18 LTU 8 18 NED 31 18 UKR 3 18 NED 54 7th Place Final 40px 100px 18 LTU 66 18 SUI 0 C Division Championship Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final 40px 100px 18 CZE 83 18 SRB 0 18 BUL 15 18 LAT 13 18 HUN 21 18 DEN 12 18 SWE 42 18 AUT 0 18 CZE 91 18 BUL 0 18 HUN 17 18 SWE 17 18 CZE 27 18 SWE 21 3rd Place Final 40px 100px 18 HUN 15 18 BUL 0 The Hungary Sweden semi final was decided on number of tries scored, which Sweden won 3-2. Relegation Semi-finals 5th Place Final 40px 100px 18 SRB 31 18 LAT 3 18 DEN 24 18 AUT 10 18 SRB 24 18 DEN 33 7th Place Final 40px 100px 18 LAT 12 18 AUT 8 D Division Championship Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final 40px 100px 18 ISR 10 18 MON 29 18 MDA 22 18 CRO 24 18 LUX 15 FRA Côte d'Azur Selection 52 18 BIH 5 18 ARM 13 18 ISR 6 18 CRO 33 18 LUX 20 18 ARM 5 18 CRO 19 18 LUX 24 3rd Place Final 40px 100px 18 ISR 10 18 ARM 25 Relegation Semi-finals 5th Place Final 40px 100px 18 MON 13 18 MDA 30 FRA Côte d'Azur Selection 34 18 BIH 10 18 MDA 45 18 BIH 14 7th Place Final 40px 100px 18 MON 3 FRA Côte d'Azur Selection 29 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 2009 Europe Category:Sport in Var (department) Category:2008–09 in European rugby union Category:2008–09 in French rugby union Category:International rugby union competitions hosted by France