Romanian Wolves were edged out by a point by Delta during group play in Rugby Europe Super Cup Pool B last month, but they got revenge on the team from the Netherlands at the weekend.
They really did turn on the style in the National Rugby Center in Amsterdam to win the rankings final 46-24.
It means that, for the 2024 competition, the Wolves finish the top Pool B side and they got off to a flyer on Saturday, going 15-0 up after 14 minutes.
Those points came thanks to tries from back-row Kemal Altinok and No.8 Adrian Mitu with scrum-half Gabriel Rupanu kicking a conversion and a penalty.
Delta could have been shell-shocked, but instead the hosts fought back with two converted tries to make it 15-14 at the interval.
Winger Daan Van Der Avoird and hooker Ross Bennie-Coulson scored the tries with Kai Van Kampen, the stand-off, adding the extras.
As they had the first, the Wolves got off to a great start in the second period.
They were 25-14 up by the 49th minute thanks to a try from centre Jason Tomane and five more points from Rupanu’s trusty boot.
It stayed that way up until 17 minutes from the end when Mees Van Oord, the full-back, kicked a penalty for Delta before they then had a player yellow carded four minutes later.
The yellow card came after a seven-point penalty try had been given to the Wolves meaning it was 32-17 and Delta had a mountain to climb.
With Delta still down to 14, Wolves replacement Vasile Balan scored a try and when fellow sub Alin Conache converted it was suddenly 39-17 with 10 minutes to go.
With a man less, Delta did score a try via replacement Adar Falan, converted by Van Oord, but the Wolves had the last word when, with the clock past 80 and in the red, Tomane scored again and Conache converted to finish it at 46-24.
David Gerard, the Wolves head coach, said: “We were determined to do well in our final game. We maybe missed a few opportunities to have an even bigger score, but I don’t want to complain as the boys did a really good job.”
Stijn Albers, the Delta No.8 and captain, said: “We did a lot of things right and the effort was definitely there, but we were a bit messy from time to time and we weren’t able to play the rugby we wanted to.”
Brussels Devils had beaten Bohemia Rugby Warriors 39-15 in group play and the Belgian side backed it up in Saturday’s rankings match, but were pushed all the way by their opponents from Czechia before winning 24-20.
In the RC Soignies Stadium, the Devils built up a 14-3 half-time advantage, but the Warriors showed real spirit to come back and when winger Adam Miracky scored a try with just eight minutes to go they were ahead for the first time.
Centre Tristan Horak converted to make it 20-17 and the Devils supporters were nervous.
Their side managed to stay calm though and, with the last minute and the final whistle approaching, replacement Lucas Michiels went over for a try and then full-back Simeon Soenen converted as they won an entertaining match by four points.
Sébastien Guns, the Devils head coach, said: “We are pleased to win, of course, but if we want to get better and compete with other teams we have to keep working hard at the basics going forward.”
Warriors skipper Dan Hosek, the No.8, said: “We are disappointed because we worked hard, but we will keep working hard to keep improving.”
Black Lion from Georgia had already clinched the RE Super Cup title the week before, but that group was finished up on Sunday with Iberians taking on Lusitanos from Portugal in Spain.
Lusitanos had won when they met in Lisbon last month and they made it a double here with a hard-fought 21-12 away win at the San Amaro Stadium in Burgos.
This game was level at 12-12 into the last quarter before Lusitanos stand-off Domingos Cabral held his nerve to kick penalties in the 64th, 70th and 75th minutes to see his side over the line.
After that, these are the final RE Super Cup 2024 rankings:
1 Black Lion
2 Lusitanos
3 Iberians
4 Romanian Wolves
5 Delta
6 Brussels Devils
7 Bohemia Rugby Warriors
There were also some international matches being played at the weekend.
In the men’s Rugby Europe Conference on Saturday, Finland were on form to defeat Norway 81-10.
Earlier in the day at the same venue of the Hakunila Sports Park, the Finnish women had been defeated 44-10 by Germany in the first game of Rugby Europe Trophy competition.
By Gary Heatly
