Six Nations B, Round 3 Fixtures
It's Round 3 of Europe's main men's championship with the promise of a close encounter in Madrid when the Romanian Oaks take on the Spanish Lions.
In the other two matches it would be a surprise if Germany one and seismic shock if Belgium beat the champion Georgians, who have recently been shgaring a camp with the England Six Nations team.
Fixtures, Round 3
Belgium vs Georgia
Germany vs Russia
Spain vs Romania
Results, Round 1
Georgia vs Romania, 18-9
Belgium vs Germany, 29-22
Spain vs Russia, 16-14
Results, Round 2
Romania vs Germany, 38-10
Russia vs Belgium, 64-7
Georgia vs Spain, 24-10
Details
Belgium vs Georgia
Belgium must have set some sort of record with no fewer than 11 changes to the starting XV from the team hammered by Russia. Two backs survive - Vincent Hart and Thomas Wallraf - and two forwards Bertrand Billi and hooker Thomas Dienst who takes on the captaincy. Two were on the bench for the last match are back there again this week - Guillaume Mortier and Maxime Temmerman.
Teams
Belgium: 15 Vincent Hart, 14 Thomas Wallraf, 13 Louis de Moffarts, 12 Ervin Muric, 11 Marc Tchangue, 10 Isaac Montoisy, 9 Tom Cocqu, 8 Corentin Lecloux , 7 Romain Honhon, 6 Gillian Benoy, 5 Maxime Ghion, 4 Bertrand Billi, 3 Romain Pinte, 2 Thomas Dienst (captain), 1 Bastien Gallaire
Replacements: 16 Martin Jessen, 17 Charlesty Berguet, 18 Tuur Moelants, 19 Guillaume Mortier, 20 Maxime Temmerman, 21 Emiel Vermote, 22 Sebastien Kairet, 23 Samuel Opsomer
Georgia: 15 Vano Karkadze , 14 Ioseb Matiashvili, 13 Mirian Modebadze, 12 Merab Sharikadze (captain), 11 Giorgi Kveseladze, 10 Zurabi Dzneladze, 9 Tedo Abzhandadze, 8 Giorgi Begadze, 7 Otari Giorgadze, 6 Giorgi Tsutskiridze, 5 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 4 Giorgi Nemsadze (captain), 3 Nodar Cheishvili, 3 Levan Chilachava, 1 Shalva Mamukashvili
Replacements: 16 Vano Karkadze, 17 Zurabi Zhvania, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Shalva Sutiashvili, 20 Beka Saginadze, 21 Gela Aprasidze, 22 Lasha Khmaladze, 23 Giorgi Aptsiauri
Date: Saturday, 2 February 2019
Kick-off: 16.00
Venue: King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels
Expected weather conditions: Rain with a high of 12°C, dropping to 8°C
Referee: Ben Blain (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Mike Todd (Scotland), Alistair Watt (Scotland)
Germany vs Russia
Raynor Parkinson, Germany's main points' scorer, is back and there has been a bit of shuffling in the backs with just two changes in the pack - at hooker and loosehead.
Russia, too, have a change at flyhalf. Iurii Kushnarev moves there from flyhalf while Vasily Artemiev comes back to fullback to captain the aside. Artemiev went to school at Blackrock College in Dublin, played for Ireland Schools and later played in England's Premiership for Northampton Saints.
Teams
Germany: 15 Harris Aounallah, 14 Nilkolai Klewinghaus, 13 Wynston Cameron-Dow, 12 Hagen Schulte, 11 Vito Lammers, 10 Raynor Parkinson, 9 Tim Menzel, 8 Sebastian Ferreira (captain), 7 Jacobus Otto, 6 Emil Rupf, 5 Jorn Schroder, 4 Eric Marks , 3 Sammy Fuchsel, 2 Dasch Barber, 1 Tobias Williams
Replacements: 16 Kurt Haupt, 17 Felix Martel, 18 Antony Dickinson, 19 Hassan Rayan, 20 Elias Haase, 21 Morné Laubscher, 22 Felix Lammers, 23 Eden Syme
Russia: 15 Vasily Artemyev (captain), 14 German Davydov, 13 Vladimir Ostroushko, 12 Dmitrii Gerasimov, 11 Mikhail Babaev, 10 Iurii Kushnarev, 9 Vasily Dorofeev, 8 Nikita Vavilin, 7 Tagir Gadzhiev, 6 Anton Sychev, 5 Andrei Garbuzov, 4 Bogdan Fedotko, 3 Azamat Bitiev, 2 Evgenii Matveev, 1 Andrei Polivalov
Replacements: 16 Stanislav Selskii, 17 Evgeny Mishechkin, 18 Innokentiy Zykov, 19 Alexander Ilin, 20 Kirill Golosnitskii, 21 Dmitrii Perov, 22 Vitaly Zhivatov, 23 Ser Ianiushkin
Date: 2 March 2019
Kick-off: 15.00
Venue: Fritz-Grunebaum-Sportpark, Heidelberg
Expected weather conditions: Rain with a high of 13°C, dropping to 8°C
Referee: Ludovic Cayre (France)
Assistant referees: Mathieu Noirot (France), Nicolas Datas (France)
Spain vs Romania
This could be a really close match as it has been over the last few years.
They are two disgruntled teams, upset that their appeals against dismissal from the 2019 Rugby World Cup. In their appeal, the Spaniards blamed the performance of a Romanian referee.
Romania had an early advantage against Spain but when last they met in Madrid, Spain won 22-10.
Teams
Spain: 15 Bradley Linklater, 14 Julen Goia, 13 Richard Stewart, 12 Alvar Gimeno, 11 Jordi Jorba, 10 Lucas Rubio, 9 Facundo Munilla, 8 Pierre Barthere, 7 Lucas Guillame, 6 Manu Mora, 5 Joshua Peters, 4 Mickael De Marco,3 Xerom Civil, 2 Benat Auzqui,1 Fernando Lopez (captain)
Redplacements: 16 JeanBaptiste Custoja, 17 Quentin Garcia, 18 Victor Sanchez, 19 Oier Goia, 20 Kerman Aurrekoetxea, 21 Andrea Rabago, 22 Hugo Alonso, 23 Jon Zabala
Romania: 15 Marius Simionescu, 14 Vladut Zaharia, 13 Catalin Fercu, 12 Fonovai Tangimana, 11 Ionut Dumitru, 10 Florin Vlaicu, 9 Florin Surugiu, 8 Cristi Chirica, 7 Mihai Macovei (captain),6 Andre Gorin, 5 Marius Antonescu, 4 Johan van Heerden,3 Alexandru Tarus, 2 Eugen Capatana, 1 Constantin Pristavita
Replacements: 16 Ovidiu Cojocaru, 17 Iulian Hartig, 18 Alexandru Gordas, 19 Dorin Lazar, 20 Adrian Ion, 21 Tudorel Bratu, 22 Daniel Plai, 23 Nicolas Onutu
Date: Sunday, 3 March 2019
Kick-off: 12.45
Venue: Estadio Nacional Complutense, Madrid
Expected weather conditions: Partly cloudy with a high of 21°C, dropping to 4°C
Referee: Adam Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Mike Todd (Wales), Alistair Watt (Wales)