Poland made it three wins from three in the men’s Rugby Europe Trophy for 2024/25 on Saturday with a 58-27 win over Croatia in an entertaining match.
With the Championship taking a break ahead of the upcoming play-offs, centre stage was given to these two sides at the weekend and they did not disappoint.
At the Narodowy Stadion Rugby in Gdynia, an excellently worked team try was finished with great power by No.8 Thomas Toevalu to give Poland the perfect start after six minutes.
Stand-off Wojciech Piotrowicz could not convert that one, but soon after he was successful with a penalty and it was 8-0 tom the home side.
Croatia got themselves on the board in the 18th minute when a quick tap penalty eventually saw second-row Toni Milos powering over from close range. Nik Jurisic, the stand-off, converted and it was 8-7.
Toevalu’s second try just after the end of the first quarter made it 13-7 to Poland and, two minutes later, a quite brilliant break by full-back Patryk Reksulak saw scrum-half Jedrzej Nowicki score with it being converted for 20-7.
A penalty on the half hour mark by Jurisic for Croatia made it 20-10, but before half-time Poland bagged two more tries.
Winger Lukasz Kornec and Nowicki, with his second, made it 32-10 at the break after one of them was converted.
Croatia knew they needed to get the first points on the board in the second period and they did when No.8 Ivo Peric finished acrobatically for 32-15.
A lovely cross field kick from Piotrowicz then put winger Kacper Wrobel in at the corner for Poland’s sixth try and the stand-off nailed the tricky conversion from out wide for good measure.
Peric’s second try for Poland, which was converted, made it 39-22 before, just before the hour mark, centre Jonathan O'Neil’s converted effort made it 46-22 to the home side.
With 15 minutes to go, replacement Daniel Gdula scored Poland’s eighth try which he converted and Wrobel’s second late on made it 58-22.
There was still time, with the clock in the red, for tighthead prop Ilija Biskic to bag Croatia’s fourth try as things finished 58-27.
Poland have now accumulated 14 points from a possible 15 so far to top the Trophy standings after adding this win to ones over Lithuania and Czechia. Their last two matches are in April.
Croatia have now played all their five matches in the six-team tournament and won one versus Lithuania, drawn versus Lithuania and lost three. They are currently fourth on six points, but there is a lot of rugby still to be played by other teams in the competition.
The next match in this event comes on March 8 when third placed Czechia takes on sixth placed Luxembourg.
By Gary Heatly
Photos: Wojciech Szymanski
