Luxembourg and Croatia played out an amazing draw in the Rugby Europe men’s Trophy at the weekend while Malta edged out Andorra in the men’s Trophy.
On Saturday in the Stade de Luxembourg, it was end-to-end rugby all the way as theLuxembourg-Croatia clash eventually ended 31-31.
Luxembourg got off to a flyer and were 14-0 up after 17 minutes thanks to tries from scrum-half Lucas Schmitt and centre Liam Carroll with stand-off Fintan Lawlor converting both.
Croatia hit back with an unconverted try by tighthead prop Ilija Biskic just before the half hour mark, but second-row Kai Sweetnam’s bagged Luxembourg’s third converted try soon after and they were 21-5 up.
After a breathless first half, it was 21-19 by half-time after back-row Toni Milos and No.8 Ivo Peric scored tries for Croatia converted by winger Nikola Pavlovic.
Croatia took heart from those two scores and went ahead for the first time in the 45th minute when second-row Marko Buljac scored their fourth try.
With just over a quarter of the match remaining, Lawlor’s penalty tied things up at 24-24 and set up an exciting ending.
Seventeen minutes were left here when Croatia went ahead once again, centre Deon Mau’u’s try converted by Pavlovic.
They so nearly held on for a win on the road, but they lost a man to the sin bin on the 76th minute and, right at the death, Croatia took advantage of 15 versus 14 to put winger John Fitzpatrick in for a try.
Full-back Matteo Franzina then held his nerve to convert as it ended 31-31 after a cracking match.
All of that leaves Luxembourg bottom of the six-team Trophy standings having played two matches while Croatia are fourth having played four games.
With action in the Trophy to resume in February, Sweden are currently top.
Meanwhile, Malta have two wins from two in Pool D in the Conference after a 10-3 win at Andorra who were playing their first game in the event this term.
In the Estadi National in Andorra la Vella, it was 3-3 heading towards half-time - penalties having come from centre Christopher Dudman for Malta and stand-off Adria Bonell Navarro with both sides also having had yellow cards - before a try came.
It was No.8 Owen Jon Vassallo who scored it for Malta with Dudman converting to make it 10-3 at the interval.
Andorra missed two penalties and Malta one while the latter had two players yellow carded in what was an exciting second half, but no more points were added as the visiting team defended well and held on.
Like the Trophy, the Conference resumes in February.
By Gary Heatly
Photos: Fédération Andorrane Rugby & RugbyEye by Karen Dewulf
