The Luxembourg National men's touch rugby team is playing in the European Championships which is being played over four days in Jersey this week.
The Luxembourg Touch section of the Rugby Club de Luxembourg (RCL) is playing some of the top nations in Europe and will be trying to improve on their 6th place ranking.
After losing their first four games against France, Wales, Belgium and Ireland (narrowly), the young Luxembourg got into its stride and managed to defeat Germany 9-5.
Results to date:
- Luxembourg 1 - 14 France
- Luxembourg 2 - 16 Wales
- Luxembourg 6 - 10 Belgium
- Luxembourg 6 - 7 Ireland
- Luxembourg 9 - 5 Germany
After a forgettable first day which saw three losses to France, Wales and Belgium, the Luxembourg team almost produced a huge shock in their first match on day 2 of the championships. The young team hit the ground running on Friday with an agonising 7-6 loss to Ireland. Luxembourg has the youngest ever mid and link partnership to appear in any European championship from any country. The performance v Ireland boosted the confidence levels of the whole squad before a crucial match v Germany in the afternoon.
In this match, the team started strongly and led 6-2 at half time, but Germany responded immediately in the second half to reduce the lead to 6-4. Captain Eduardo Angioni settled nerves with a crucial interception on the Lux 5-metre line to race 65 metres, without pulling a hamstring, before scoring. The team showed tremendous maturity for the remainder of the match to see off the Germans for a 9-5 victory in front of a small but vocal band of traveling supporters.
Player coach Simon Neale suffered a calf injury which looks likely to rule him out of the remainder of the tournament while fellow kiwi Nathan Sneyd hopes to return on day three for the games v England, Scotland and Italy.
