6NB: Georgia with the Air of Champions
On Saturday, 22 February 2020, the third round of Rugby Europe's National Championship takes place for the 18th time. Expectations are that Georgia will win it for the 12th time.
The Leos and the Lobos of Portugal are the two unbeaten teams after the first two rounds. They could well be unbeaten still after Round 3 but then meet each other in Round 4.
Log after Round 2
1. Georgia 9 points (points' difference 41)
2. Portugal 8 points (points' difference 17)
3. Belgium 6 points (points' difference 20)
4. Spain 5 points (points' difference 6)
5. Romania 0 points (points' difference -39)
6. Russia 0 points (points' difference -45)
Results Round 1
Spain vs Russia, 31-12
Georgia vs Romania, 41-13
Portugal vs Belgium, 23-17
Results Round 2
Belgium vs Russia, 38-12
Georgia vs Spain, 23-10
Portugal vs Romania 22-11
Fixtures, Round 3
Georgia vs Belgium
Romania vs Spain
Russia vs Portugal
Match Details
Teams
Georgia vs Belgium in Kutaisi on Saturday, 22 February 2020. Kick-off: 12.00 CET
Georgia made wholesale changes. All five tight forwards were changed, including the captain Mikheil Nariashvili. No.8 Beka Gorgadze is one of the five starting players retained. He is the captain this time.
Belgium have outdone Georgia with 12 changes to their starting team, retaining only captain Thomas Dienst, flyhalf Antoine Vassart and inside centre Guillaume Piron. And they have changed the whole bench.
Georgia: 15 Ioseb Matiashvili, 14, 13, 12, 11 Akaki Tabutsadze, 10 Tedo Abzhandadze, 9 Gela Aprasidze, 8 Beka Gorgadze captain), 7 Giorgi Tsutskiridze, 6 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 5 Nodar Cheishvili, 4 Lasha Jaiani, 3 Giorgi Melikidze, 2 Vano Karkadze, 1 Guram Gogichashvili
Replacements: 16 Giorgi Chkoidze, 17 Giorgi Tetrashvili, 18 Lasha Tabidze, 19 Davit Gigauri, 20 Beka Saginadze, 21 Giorgi Begadze, 22 Lasha Khmaladze, 23 Tamaz Mchedlidze
Coach: Levan Maisashvili
Belgium: 15 Cédric Wieme, 14 Gaspard Lalli, 13 Louis De-Moffarts, 12 Guillaume Piron, 11 Thomas Wallraf, 10 Antoine Vassart, 9 Tom Cocqu, 8 Amin Hamzaoui, 7 Romain Honhon, 6 Dazzy Cornez, 5 Salay Baudry, 4 Bertrand Billi, 3 Bruno Vliegen, 2 Thomas Dienst (captain), 1 Romain Pinte
Replacements: 16 Martin Jessen, 17 Remi De-Wolf, 18 Maximilien Hendrickx, 19 Karel De-Paepe, 20 Gauthier Petit, 21 Florian Piron, 22 Ryan Godsmark, 23 Ayrton Stainer
Coach: Guillaume Ajac
Referee: Cristian Serban (Romania)
Assistant referees: Radu Petrescu (Romania), M Vacaru (Romania)
Citing commissioner: Philippe Marguin (France)
Romania vs Spain in Botosani on Saturday, 22 February 2020. Kick-off: 14.00 CET
Teams
Romania have changed eight of their starting team. They have kept their captain but Spain have changed theirs.
Romania: 15 Ionel Melinte, 14 Marius Simionescu, 13 Catalin Fercu, 12 Florian Vlaicu, 11 Nicolas Onutu, 10 Daniel Plai, 9 Florin Surugiu, 8 Cristi Chirica, 7 Dragos Ser, 6 Mihai Macovei (captain), 5 Adrian Motoc, 4 Johan van Heerden, 3 Alexandru Savin, 2 Eugen Capatina, 1 Horatiu Pungea
Replacements: 16 Ovidiu Cojocaru, 17 Constantin Pristavita, 18 Valentin Poparlan, 19 Adrian Ion, 20 Tudorel Bratu, 21 Vladut Popa , 22 Moa Maliepo, 23 Costel Burtila
Coach: Andy Robinson
Spain: 15 John-Wessel Bell, 14 Julen Goia, 13 Richard Stewart, 12 Alvar Gimeno, 11 Ignacio Contardi, 10 Bradley Linklater, 9 Guillame Rouet, 8 Lionel-Afase Tauli, 7 Gauthier Gibouin (captain), 6 Fred Quercy, 5 Joshua Peters, 4 Lucas Guillame, 3 Albert Blanco, 2 Marco Pinto, 1 Thierry Futeu
Replacements: 16 Thierry Futeu, 17 Vicente Del-Hoyo, 18 Jon Zabala, 19 Nathan Paila, 20 , 21 Tomas Munilla, 22 Pierre Nueno, 23 Martin Alonso
Coach: Santiago Santos
Referee: Nika Amashkeli (Georgia)
Assistant referees: Tornike Gvirjishvili (Georgia), Shota Tsagareishvili (Georgia)
Russia vs Portugal in Kaliningrad on Saturday, 22 February 2020. Kick-off: 15.00 CET
Battling Russia made many changes, Portugal none to the backs and one in the pack. The Russians have changed captains from Artemyev Vasily to lock Andrei Garbuzov.
Teams
Russia: 15 Artemyev Vasily, 14 German Davydov, 13 Dmitrii Gerasimov, 12 Kirill Golosnitskii, 11 Nikita Churashov, 10 Ramil Gaisin, 9 Konstantin Uzunov, 8 Viktor Gresev, 7 Eme Peki, 6 Roman Khodin, 5 Andrei Garbuzov (captain), 4 Andrey Ostrikov, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 Shamil Magomedov, 1 Valeriy Morozov
Replacements: 16 Evgenii Matveev, 17 Evgeny Mishechkin, 18 Vladimir Podrezov, 19 Evgeny Elgin, 20 Vitaly Zhivatov, 21 Stepan Khokhlov, 22 Stanislav Bondarev, 23 German Godliuk
Coach: Lyn Jones
Portugal: 15 Manuel Pinto, 14 Rodrigo Marta, 13 Antonio Vidinha, 12 Tomas Appleton (captain), 11 Danny Antunes, 10 Joao Lima, 9 Duarte Azevedo, 8 Thibault Freitas, 7 David Carvalho, 6 Joao Granate, 5 Duarte Torgal, 4 José Madeira, 3 Ivo Morais, 2 Lionel Campergue, 1 Francisco Fernandes
Replacements: 16 Costa David, 17 Rodrigo Bento, 18 Luis Batista, 19 Eric Santos, 20 Manuel Eusebio, 21 Pedro Lucas, 22 Joao Freudenthal, 23 Diogo Ferreira
Coach: Patrice Lagisquet
Referee: Iñigo Atorrasagasti (Spain)
Assistant referees: Iñaki Munoz Martin (Spain), Aldai Ibisate (Spain)
Citing commissioner: Norbert Li-Marchetti (Switzerland)