2023 Rugby Europe Super Cup

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2023 Rugby Europe Super Cup
Tournament details
Countries Belgium
 Czech Republic
 Georgia
 Israel
 Netherlands
 Portugal
 Romania
 Spain
Date4 November – 22 December 2023
Tournament statistics
Teams8
Matches played20
Attendance6,664 (333 per match)
Tries scored153 (7.65 per match)
Final
ChampionsGeorgia (country) Black Lion (3rd title)
Runners-upIsrael Tel Aviv Heat
← 2022 (Previous)
(Next) 2024 →

The 2023 Rugby Europe Super Cup was the third edition of the Rugby Europe Super Cup, an annual rugby union competition for professional clubs and franchises outside the three major leagues of European rugby. This edition of the Rugby Europe Super Cup featured one new addition to the competition, the Bohemia Rugby Warriors from the Czech Republic, who in turn replaced RC Batumi of Georgia, the team that participated in the previous edition of the tournament. For the first time, eight separate nations were represented in the competition.[1]

The Black Lion Tbilisi from Georgia, as winners of the 2022 edition are also competing by invitation in the second tier European Challenge Cup, the first time the winner of the Super Cup has been integrated into the professional EPCR competition.

Teams[edit]

Nation Stadium Head coach Captain
Home stadium Capacity Location
Georgia (country) Black Lion Avchala Stadium 2,500 Tbilisi Georgia (country) Levan Maisashvili Merab Sharikadze
Czech Republic Bohemia Rugby Warriors [fr] Markéta Stadium 10,000 Prague Czech Republic Antonín Brabec Patrik Prucha
Belgium Brussels Devils [fr] Stade Communal de Soignies 1,000 Soignies Belgium Sébastien Guns Robin Vermeersch
Spain Castilla y León Iberians Estadio Pepe Rojo 5,000 Valladolid Spain Miguel Velasco Mario Pichardie
Netherlands Delta NRCA Stadium 10,000 Amsterdam South Africa Gareth Gilbert Vikas Meijer
Portugal Lusitanos Estádio Nacional 500 Lisbon France Sébastien Bertrank Tomás Appleton
Romania Romanian Wolves Arena Zimbrilor 2,300 Baia Mare Romania Eugen Apjok Nicolaas Immelman
Israel Tel Aviv Heat Tsirio Stadium*
National Rugby Center*
13,331
3,000
Limassol*
Budapest*
South Africa Kevin Musikanth Prince ǃGaoseb

* Owing to the ongoing war in Israel, Tel Aviv Heat's home matches were played in Cyprus and Hungary

Group stage[edit]

The format was mildly rejigged from previous seasons with a 'major' and 'minor' group, rather than two geographical pools, although the distribution was roughly north (Group B) and south (Group A).

The 'major' group, Group A contained the four highest seeds, three of whom qualify for the semi finals. The 'minor' group, Group B, contained the teams ranked 5th to 8th, and the winner of that group became the fourth semi finalist. The aim was to ensure relative competitiveness across the competition.

Tel Aviv Heat played both of its home fixtures outside Israel due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

Key to colours
     Advances to the Grand Finals Semi-Finals
     Advances to the Ranking Finals Semi-Finals

Group A[edit]

Pos. Team Games Points Tries TBP LBP Table
points
Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Diff For Against Diff
1 Georgia (country) Black Lion 3 3 0 0 90 46 +44 13 6 +7 2 0 14
2 Israel Tel Aviv Heat 3 2 0 1 96 72 +24 14 8 +6 2 1 11
3 Spain Castilla y León Iberians 3 1 0 2 57 90 -33 8 13 -5 0 0 4
4 Portugal Lusitanos 3 0 0 3 36 71 -35 3 11 -8 0 1 1
Points were awarded to the teams as follows:
Win – 4 points | Draw – 2 points | At least 3 more tries than opponent – 1 point | Loss within 7 points – 1 point

Round 1[edit]

4 November 2023
16:00 GET (UTC+04)
(1 TBP) Black Lion Georgia (country)39–19Spain Castilla y León Iberians
Report
Avchala Stadium, Tbilisi
Attendance: n/a
Referee: Romania Cristian Șerban
4 November 2023
15:00 WET (UTC+00)
Lusitanos Portugal23–31Israel Tel Aviv Heat (1 TBP)
Report
Estádio Nacional, Lisbon
Attendance: n/a
Referee: Scotland Ian Kenny

Round 2[edit]

11 November 2023
15:00 WET (UTC+00)
Lusitanos Portugal0–22Georgia (country) Black Lion (1 TBP)
Report
Estádio Nacional, Lisbon
Attendance: 300
Referee: Ireland Keane Davsion
12 November 2023
12:00 CET (UTC+01)
Castilla y León Iberians Spain20–38Israel Tel Aviv Heat (1 TBP)
Report
Estadio Pepe Rojo, Valladolid
Attendance: 500
Referee: Georgia (country) Shota Tevzadze

Round 3[edit]

18 November 2023
19:00 EEST (UTC+02)
(1 LBP) Tel Aviv Heat Israel27–29Georgia (country) Black Lion
Report
Tsirio Stadium, Limassol
Attendance: 0
Referee: France Luc Ramos
19 November 2023
12:30 CET (UTC+01)
Castilla y León Iberians Spain18–13Portugal Lusitanos (1 LBP)
Report
Estadio Pepe Rojo, Valladolid
Attendance: n/a
Referee: Georgia (country) Saba Abulashvili

Group B[edit]

Pos. Team Games Points Tries TBP LBP Table
points
Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Diff For Against Diff
1 Romania Romanian Wolves 3 3 0 0 167 17 +150 25 3 +22 3 0 15
2 Belgium Brussels Devils 3 2 0 1 89 82 +7 14 9 +5 2 0 10
3 Netherlands Delta 3 1 0 2 91 72 +19 11 12 -1 1 0 5
4 Czech Republic Bohemia Rugby Warriors 3 0 0 3 17 193 -176 2 28 -26 0 0 0
Points were awarded to the teams as follows:
Win – 4 points | Draw – 2 points | At least 3 more tries than opponent – 1 point | Loss within 7 points – 1 point

Round 1[edit]

4 November 2023
19:00 CET (UTC+01)
(1 TBP) Brussels Devils Belgium41–12Netherlands Delta
Report
Stade Communal de Soignies, Soignies
Attendance: 582
Referee: Wales Mike English
5 November 2023
14:00 EET (UTC+02)
(1 TBP) Romanian Wolves Romania76–7Czech Republic Bohemia Rugby Warriors
Report
Arena Zimbrilor, Baia Mare
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Moldova Eugeniu Procopi

Round 2[edit]

10 November 2023
19:30 CET (UTC+01)
Delta Netherlands5–31Romania Romanian Wolves (1 TBP)
Report
NRCA Stadium, Amsterdam
Attendance: 300
Referee: Georgia (country) Saba Abulashvili
11 November 2023
14:00 CET (UTC+01)
Bohemia Rugby Warriors Czech Republic10–43Belgium Brussels Devils (1 TBP)
Report
Markéta Stadium, Prague
Attendance: n/a
Referee: Spain Iñigo Atorrasagasti

Round 3[edit]

16 November 2023
19:00 CET (UTC+01)
Bohemia Rugby Warriors Czech Republic0–74Netherlands Delta (1 TBP)
Report
Markéta Stadium, Prague
Attendance: 732
Referee: Switzerland Ethan Glass
18 November 2023
20:30 CET (UTC+01)
Brussels Devils Belgium5–60Romania Romanian Wolves (1 TBP)
Report
Nelson Mandela Stadium, Brussels
Attendance: 650
Referee: Portugal Paulo Duarte

Ranking Finals[edit]

 
Fifth place semi-finalsFifth place Final
 
      
 
3 December – Soignies
 
 
Netherlands Delta8
 
16 December – Amsterdam
 
Portugal Lusitanos53
 
Portugal Lusitanos (a.e.t.)46
 
2 December – Amsterdam
 
Belgium Brussels Devils29
 
Belgium Brussels Devils44
 
 
Czech Republic Bohemia Rugby Warriors10
 
Seventh place final
 
 
16 December – Amsterdam
 
 
Netherlands Delta55
 
 
Czech Republic Bohemia Rugby Warriors3

Semi-finals[edit]

2 December 2023
19:00 CET (UTC+01)
Brussels Devils Belgium44–10Czech Republic Bohemia Rugby Warriors
Report
Stade Communal de Soignies, Soignies
Attendance: 250
Referee: Romania Alexandru Ionescu
3 December 2023
12:45 CET (UTC+01)
Delta Netherlands8–53Portugal Lusitanos
Report
NRCA Stadium, Amsterdam
Attendance: 100
Referee: Switzerland Ethan Glass

7th place final[edit]

16 December 2023
15:00 CET (UTC+01)
Delta Netherlands55–3Czech Republic Bohemia Rugby Warriors
Report
NRCA Stadium, Amsterdam
Attendance: 150
Referee: Portugal Paulo Duarte

5th place final[edit]

16 December 2023
12:00 CET (UTC+01)
Lusitanos Portugal46–29 (a.e.t.)Belgium Brussels Devils
Report
NRCA Stadium, Amsterdam
Attendance: 150
Referee: Spain Iñigo Atorrasagasti

Grand Finals[edit]

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
2 December – Tbilisi
 
 
Georgia (country) Black Lion41
 
22 December – Tbilisi
 
Spain Castilla y León Iberians0
 
Georgia (country) Black Lion27
 
2 December – Budapest
 
Israel Tel Aviv Heat17
 
Israel Tel Aviv Heat31
 
 
Romania Romanian Wolves6
 
Bronze final
 
 
16 December – Amsterdam
 
 
Spain Castilla y León Iberians17
 
 
Romania Romanian Wolves41

Semi-finals[edit]

2 December 2023
14:00 GET (UTC+04)
Black Lion Georgia (country)41–0Spain Castilla y León Iberians
Report
Avchala Stadium, Tbilisi
Attendance: 800
Referee: Scotland Ru Campbell
2 December 2023
13:30 CET (UTC+01)
Tel Aviv Heat Israel31–6Romania Romanian Wolves
Report
National Rugby Center, Budapest
Attendance: 500
Referee: Ireland Andrew Cole

Bronze final[edit]

16 December 2023
18:00 CET (UTC+01)
Castilla y León Iberians Spain17–41Romania Romanian Wolves
Report
NRCA Stadium, Amsterdam
Attendance: 150
Referee: Georgia (country) Sulkhan Chikhladze

Cup Final[edit]

22 December 2023
15:00 GET (UTC+04)
Black Lion Georgia (country)27–17Israel Tel Aviv Heat
Report
Avchala Stadium, Tbilisi
Attendance: 1,500
Referee: Ireland Andrew Cole

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Rugby Europe has confirmed the details of the third season of the Rugby Europe Super Cup, its club competition for the emerging rugby unions in Europe". 6 July 2023.