2023 Rugby Europe Super Cup
| 2023 Rugby Europe Super Cup | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Countries | Belgium Czech Republic Georgia Israel Netherlands Portugal Romania Spain |
| Date | 4 November – 22 December 2023 |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Teams | 8 |
| Matches played | 20 |
| Attendance | 6,664 (333 per match) |
| Tries scored | 153 (7.65 per match) |
| Final | |
| Champions | Black Lion (3rd title) |
| Runners-up | Tel Aviv Heat |
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
| Nation | Stadium | Head coach | Captain | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home stadium | Capacity | Location | |||
| Black Lion | Avchala Stadium | 2,500 | Tbilisi | Levan Maisashvili | Merab Sharikadze |
| Bohemia Rugby Warriors | Markéta Stadium | 10,000 | Prague | Antonín Brabec and Jan Oswald |
Patrik Prucha |
| Brussels Devils | Stade Communal de Soignies | 1,000 | Soignies | Sébastien Guns | Robin Vermeersch |
| Castilla y León Iberians | Estadio Pepe Rojo | 5,000 | Valladolid | Miguel Velasco | Mario Pichardie |
| Delta | NRCA Stadium | 10,000 | Amsterdam | Gareth Gilbert | Vikas Meijer |
| Lusitanos | Estádio Nacional | 500 | Lisbon | Sébastien Bertrank | Tomás Appleton |
| Romanian Wolves | Arena Zimbrilor | 2,300 | Baia Mare | Eugen Apjok | Nicolaas Immelman |
| Tel Aviv Heat | Tsirio Stadium* National Rugby Center* |
13,331 3,000 |
Limassol* Budapest* |
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
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.
| Advances to the Grand Finals Semi-Finals | |
| Advances to the Ranking Finals Semi-Finals |
Pool A
| Pos. | Team | Games | Points | Tries | TBP | LBP | Table points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Diff | For | Against | Diff | |||||
| 1 | Black Lion | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 46 | +44 | 13 | 6 | +7 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| 2 | Tel Aviv Heat | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 96 | 72 | +24 | 14 | 8 | +6 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| 3 | Castilla y León Iberians | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 57 | 90 | -33 | 8 | 13 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | 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
| 4 November 2023 16:00 GET (UTC+04) |
| (1 TBP) Black Lion | 39–19 | Castilla y León Iberians |
| Report |
| Avchala Stadium, Tbilisi Attendance: n/a Referee: Cristian Șerban |
| 4 November 2023 15:00 WET (UTC+00) |
| Lusitanos | 23–31 | Tel Aviv Heat (1 TBP) |
| Report |
| Estádio Nacional, Lisbon Attendance: n/a Referee: Ian Kenny |
Round 2
| 11 November 2023 15:00 WET (UTC+00) |
| Lusitanos | 0–22 | Black Lion (1 TBP) |
| Report |
| Estádio Nacional, Lisbon Attendance: 300 Referee: Keane Davsion |
| 12 November 2023 12:00 CET (UTC+01) |
| Castilla y León Iberians | 20–38 | Tel Aviv Heat (1 TBP) |
| Report |
| Estadio Pepe Rojo, Valladolid Attendance: 500 Referee: Shota Tevzadze |
Round 3
| 18 November 2023 19:00 EEST (UTC+02) |
| (1 LBP) Tel Aviv Heat | 27–29 | Black Lion |
| Report |
| Tsirio Stadium, Limassol Attendance: 0 Referee: Luc Ramos |
| 19 November 2023 12:30 CET (UTC+01) |
| Castilla y León Iberians | 18–13 | Lusitanos (1 LBP) |
| Report |
| Estadio Pepe Rojo, Valladolid Attendance: n/a Referee: Saba Abulashvili |
Pool B
| Pos. | Team | Games | Points | Tries | TBP | LBP | Table points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Diff | For | Against | Diff | |||||
| 1 | Romanian Wolves | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 167 | 17 | +150 | 25 | 3 | +22 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| 2 | Brussels Devils | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 89 | 82 | +7 | 14 | 9 | +5 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| 3 | Delta | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 91 | 72 | +19 | 11 | 12 | -1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 4 | 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
| 4 November 2023 19:00 CET (UTC+01) |
| (1 TBP) Brussels Devils | 41–12 | Delta |
| Report |
| Stade Communal de Soignies, Soignies Attendance: 582 Referee: Mike English |
| 5 November 2023 14:00 EET (UTC+02) |
| (1 TBP) Romanian Wolves | 76–7 | Bohemia Rugby Warriors |
| Report |
| Arena Zimbrilor, Baia Mare Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Eugeniu Procopi |
Round 2
| 10 November 2023 19:30 CET (UTC+01) |
| Delta | 5–31 | Romanian Wolves (1 TBP) |
| Report |
| NRCA Stadium, Amsterdam Attendance: 300 Referee: Saba Abulashvili |
| 11 November 2023 14:00 CET (UTC+01) |
| Bohemia Rugby Warriors | 10–43 | Brussels Devils (1 TBP) |
| Report |
| Markéta Stadium, Prague Attendance: n/a Referee: Iñigo Atorrasagasti |
Round 3
| 16 November 2023 19:00 CET (UTC+01) |
| Bohemia Rugby Warriors | 0–74 | Delta (1 TBP) |
| Report |
| Markéta Stadium, Prague Attendance: 732 Referee: Ethan Glass |
| 18 November 2023 20:30 CET (UTC+01) |
| Brussels Devils | 5–60 | Romanian Wolves (1 TBP) |
| Report |
| Nelson Mandela Stadium, Brussels Attendance: 650 Referee: Paulo Duarte |
Ranking Finals
| Fifth place semi-finals | Fifth place Final | |||||
| 3 December – Soignies | ||||||
| Delta | 8 | |||||
| 16 December – Amsterdam | ||||||
| Lusitanos | 53 | |||||
| Lusitanos (a.e.t.) | 46 | |||||
| 2 December – Amsterdam | ||||||
| Brussels Devils | 29 | |||||
| Brussels Devils | 44 | |||||
| Bohemia Rugby Warriors | 10 | |||||
| Seventh place final | ||||||
| 16 December – Amsterdam | ||||||
| Delta | 55 | |||||
| Bohemia Rugby Warriors | 3 | |||||
Semi-finals
| 2 December 2023 19:00 CET (UTC+01) |
| Brussels Devils | 44–10 | Bohemia Rugby Warriors |
| Report |
| Stade Communal de Soignies, Soignies Attendance: 250 Referee: Alexandru Ionescu |
| 3 December 2023 12:45 CET (UTC+01) |
| Delta | 8–53 | Lusitanos |
| Report |
| NRCA Stadium, Amsterdam Attendance: 100 Referee: Ethan Glass |
7th place final
| 16 December 2023 15:00 CET (UTC+01) |
| Delta | 55–3 | Bohemia Rugby Warriors |
| Report |
| NRCA Stadium, Amsterdam Attendance: 150 Referee: Paulo Duarte |
5th place final
| 16 December 2023 12:00 CET (UTC+01) |
| Lusitanos | 46–29 (a.e.t.) | Brussels Devils |
| Report |
| NRCA Stadium, Amsterdam Attendance: 150 Referee: Iñigo Atorrasagasti |
Grand Finals
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 2 December – Tbilisi | ||||||
| Black Lion | 41 | |||||
| 22 December – Tbilisi | ||||||
| Castilla y León Iberians | 0 | |||||
| Black Lion | 27 | |||||
| 2 December – Budapest | ||||||
| Tel Aviv Heat | 17 | |||||
| Tel Aviv Heat | 31 | |||||
| Romanian Wolves | 6 | |||||
| Bronze final | ||||||
| 16 December – Amsterdam | ||||||
| Castilla y León Iberians | 17 | |||||
| Romanian Wolves | 41 | |||||
Semi-finals
| 2 December 2023 14:00 GET (UTC+04) |
| Black Lion | 41–0 | Castilla y León Iberians |
| Report |
| Avchala Stadium, Tbilisi Attendance: 800 Referee: Ru Campbell |
| 2 December 2023 13:30 CET (UTC+01) |
| Tel Aviv Heat | 31–6 | Romanian Wolves |
| Report |
| National Rugby Center, Budapest Attendance: 500 Referee: Andrew Cole |
Bronze final
| 16 December 2023 18:00 CET (UTC+01) |
| Castilla y León Iberians | 17–41 | Romanian Wolves |
| Report |
| NRCA Stadium, Amsterdam Attendance: 150 Referee: Sulkhan Chikhladze |
Cup Final
| 22 December 2023 15:00 GET (UTC+04) |
| Black Lion | 27–17 | Tel Aviv Heat |
| Report |
| Avchala Stadium, Tbilisi Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Andrew Cole |