1995–97 FIRA Trophy

1995-97 FIRA Trophy
Date 19 November 1995 – 23 May 1997
Countries  Belgium
 France
 Germany
 Italy
 Morocco
 Portugal
 Romania
 Russia
 Spain
 Tunisia
Tournament statistics
Champions  Italy
Matches played 41
← 1992–1994 (Previous) (Next) 1996–1997 →

The 1995–1997 FIRA Trophy was arranged again with a new format.

Due the work to prepare the 1995 Rugby World Cup, France, Italy and Romania were not able to participate in the 1994-95 season of any competition, so for that season a "Preliminary Tournament" was organized with ten other teams. The better seven teams were admitted to this tournament, with France, Italy and Romania.

The tournament lived a great crisis, due to lower interest of the strongest teams: France sent usually minor teams, and Italy was involved in more important matches with the strongest teams of the world like Australia, England and Wales.

This is evident looking the results and the program. France played the first round robin with the Military team, Italy and Romania didn't arrange a match for this tournament, but considered valid the match played in neutral ground in Argentina for the "Latina Cup". Italy sent two lower level teams to play (in the same weekend) the last two matches. The final between Italy and France was played only in March 1997, while the 1996-97 edition was already progressing at half way.

This edition was important because it was the first ever triumph of Italy in the competition, defeating France by 40-32 in the final, thus cementing their claims to be the sixth European rugby nation powerhouse. Italy had started to play in this tournament with France in 1966 and, despite some close results, had never previously beaten their strong rivals. Italy win, shortly after France had carried the 1997 Five Nations Championship, was a historical feat that proved to be crucial for Italy's admission at the Six Nations Championship in 2000.

First division

Preliminary Tournament

Three directly admitted

And seven qualified from the preliminary tournament

Pool A

Place Nation Games Points Table
points
played won drawn lost for against diff.
1 France4 4 0 0 194 29+16512
2 Spain 4 3 0 1 91 90+110
3 Russia 4 2 023795-588
4 Morocco 4 1 03 41 70 -29 6
5 Tunisia 4 00 41178 -672
19 November 1995
France Military France 33 - 12  Russia
10 December 1995
Tunisia  11 - 20  Morocco
6 January 1996
Morocco  8 - 22 France France Military
16 March 1996
Morocco  3 - 24  Spain
16 March 1996
France Military France 58 - 0  Tunisia
31 March 1996
Spain  9 - 81 France France XV
14 April 1996
Spain  52 - 6  Russia
28 April 1996
Spain  6 – 0
withdraw 		 Tunisia
11 May 1996
Morocco  10 - 13  Russia
19 May 1996
 Tunisia 0 – 6
withdraw 		 Russia

Pool B

Place Nation Games Points Table
points
played won drawn lost for against diff.
1 Italy4 4 0 0 249 35+21412
2 Romania 4 30 1 21854+16410
3 Portugal 420270177-1078
4 Poland 4 10 3 61195 -134 6
5 Belgium 40 0 4 43 180-137 4
Point system: try 4 pt, conversion: 2 pt., penalty kick 3 pt. drop 3 pt
Click "show" for more info about match (scorers, line-up etc.)
28 1995
Poland  30 - 10  Belgium
16 March 1996
Belgium  18 - 29  Portugal
13 April 1996
Romania  92 - 0  Portugal
19 April 1996
Romania A Romania 83 - 5  Belgium
27 April 1996
Portugal  38 - 3  Poland
12 May 1996
Poland  9 - 40  Romania
24 May 1996
Belgium  10 - 38 Italy Emerging Italy[1]
25 May 1996
Italy A Italy 107 - 19  Poland

Final

22 March 1997
France  32 - 40  Italy
Try: 14' Penalty try
52' e 82' Bondouy
79' Sadourny
Con: 14', 52' e 82' Aucagne
Pen: 20', 24' Aucagne
 Try: 5' I. Francescato
34' Gardner
56' Croci
74' Vaccari
Con: 5', 34', 56' e 74' Domínguez
Pen: 17', 30', 62' e 68' Domínguez
Stade Lesdiguières, Grenoble
Attendance: 13,000
Referee: McHugh Ireland
France 
Jean-Luc Sadourny
Stephane Ougier
Yann Delaigue
Pierre Bondouy
Philippe Saint-André
David Aucagne
Guy Accoceberry
Fabien Pelous
Arnaud Costes
Philippe Benetton
Hugues Miorin
Olivier Merle
Franck Tournaire
Marc Dal Maso
Marc de Rougemont
 
Serge Betsen
Raphael Ibanez
 
Pierre Villepreux
 
FB 15FB
RW 14RW
OC 13OC
IC 12IC
LW 11LW
FH 10FH
SH 9 SH
N8 8 N8
OF 7 OF
BF 6 BF
RL 5 RL
LL 4 LL
TP 3 TP
HK 2 HK
LP 1 LP
Substitutions:
 
 
Coaches
 
 Italy
Javier Pértile
Paolo Vaccari
Stefano Bordon
Ivan Francescato
Marcello Cuttitta
Diego Dominguez
Alessandro Troncon
Julian Gardner
Andrea Sgorlon
Massimo Giovanelli (c)
Giambattista Croci
Walter Cristofoletto
Franco Properzi
Carlo Orlandi
Massimo Cuttitta
 
Francesco Mazzariol
Gianluca Guidi
 
Georges Coste

Second division

Pool 1 (Gold)

Place Nation Games Points Table
points
played won drawn lost for against diff.
1 Netherlands4 3 1 0 107 31 +7611
2 Georgia 4 3 0 1 40 61 -21 10
3 Germany 4 2 0 2 52 48 +4 8
4 Czech Republic 4 1 0 3 62 80 -18 6
5 Denmark 4 0 1 3 37 75 -38 4
23 September 1995
Germany  28 - 17  Czech Republic
15 October 1995
Georgia  14 - 3  Germany
29 October 1995
Denmark  20 - 20  Netherlands
19 November 1995
 Denmark 0 - W Georgia 
Aalborg
Referee: Zboralsky (France)

GEO duly arrived but DNK did not take the frozen field claiming it was not safe Reference: Georgia Rugby Record 1959-2009, p 152,155

http://issuu.com/qaflan/docs/ka-mataine50
24 November 1995
Netherlands  55 - 3  Georgia
30 March 1996
Czech Republic  3 - 26  Netherlands
12 April 1996
Georgia  20 - 3  Czech Republic
21 April 1996
Netherlands  6 - 5  Germany
27 April 1996
Czech Republic  39 - 6  Denmark
12 May 1996
Germany  16 - 11  Denmark

Pool 2 (Silver)

Place Nation Games Points Table
points
played won drawn lost for against diff.
1 Serbia and Montenegro2 2 0 0 69 21 +48 6
2 Andorra 2 1 0 1 25 38 -13 4
3 Bulgaria 2 0 0 2 17 52 -35 2
24 March 1996
Serbia and Montenegro  30 - 12  Andorra

20 April 1996
Andorra  13 - 8  Bulgaria
18 June 1996
Bulgaria  9 - 39  Serbia and Montenegro

Third division

Pool 1

Place Nation Games Points Table
points
played won drawn lost for against diff.
1 Ukraine3 3 0 0 84 11 +73 9
2 Latvia 3 2 0 1 50 44 +6 7
3 Moldova 3 1 0 2 20 61 -41 5
4 Lithuania 3 0 0 3 38 76 -38 3
1 May 1996
Ukraine  38 - 0  Moldova
11 May 1996
Latvia  34 - 20  Lithuania

10 October 1996
Latvia  3 - 19  Ukraine
21 October 1996
Latvia  13 - 5  Moldova
1996
Lithuania  8 - 27  Ukraine
1996
Lithuania  10 - 15  Moldova

Pool 2

Place Nation Games Points Table
points
played won drawn lost for against diff.
1 Hungary2 2 0 0 55 19 +36 6
2 Slovenia 2 1 0 1 23 44 -21 4
3 Austria 2 0 0 2 18 33 -15 2
5 November 1995
Austria  8 - 21  Hungary
20 April 1996
Slovenia  12 - 10  Austria

11 May 1996
Hungary  34 - 11  Slovenia

Pool 3

Place Nation Games Points Table
points
played won drawn lost for against diff.
1 Croatia2 2 0 0 37 18+196
2 Israel 2 1 0 1 26 33 -7 4
3 Luxembourg 2 0 0 2 24 36 -12 2
28 October 1995
Luxembourg  12 - 16  Croatia
7 April 1996
Israel  20 - 12  Luxembourg
27 April 1996
Croatia  21 - 6  Israel

Notes and references

  1. ↑ This team was based on the "Students team", preparing the incoming University World Cup, reinforced with the presence of the national captain Massimo Giovanelli

Bibliography

External links

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