LITHUANIA v NETHERLANDS: World Cup Qual. Europe R3 European Nations Cup, Division 2A

10.11.2012

Venue: Miesto Centrinis Stadionas, Šiaulių

Referee: Alexei Bryzgalin (Russia)

Preview

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
MALTA	2	1	0	1	53	37	16	1	1	6
SWITZ.	1	1	0	0	29	20	9	0	0	4
CROATIA	2	1	0	1	40	48	-8	0	0	4
LTHUANIA	1	0	0	1	17	34	-17	0	0	0
NETHERL.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

This is Netherland’s first game in this competition this season. They were relegated from ENC 1B at the end of the 2010-12 competition.

Lithuania were soundly defeated by Malta away but will be a tougher opponent at home. For this match they appear to have the bulk of their overseas players from England and France. This means they possibly have their strongest squad available. If this is the case then Netherlands will have their hands full.

They last time these two teams met was in a World Cup Qualifying playoff match. The Netherlands made the mistake of sending a below-strength side (the rest were playing in a seven’s tournament) and paid the price by losing 3-6 and bailing out of World Cup Qualifying. I expect the Dutch will not be caught napping this time.

This should prove to be a very interesting clash. I’d expect the result to be close.

GWC Rugby Rankings
Europe Table-Netherlands 16th, Lithuania 21st

IRB Ranking Points
Lithuania 49.30, Netherlands 47.66

Prediction: Lithuania by 3 points

TEAMS

Lithuania Squad

Vaidotas Gaubas (BaltRex, Šiauliai)

Evaldas Gaubys (Vairas, Šiauliai)

Mindaugas Grigas (Vairas, Šiauliai)

Maksim Guseinov (Peterborough Lions RFC, England)

Daivaras Jonaitis (Vairas, Šiauliai)

Gediminas Marcišauskas (Peterborough Lions RFC, England)

Kęstutis Marcišauskas (Vairas, Šiauliai)

Mantas Maršantas (BaltRex, Šiauliai)

Mindaugas Misevičius (Vairas, Šiauliai)

Karolis Navickas (Bordeaux Begles, France)

Mindaugas Norvaišas (Ąžuolas, Kaunas)

Edmundas Ščavinskas (BaltRex, Šiauliai)

Richardas Stankus (Vairas, Šiauliai)

Andrius Sutkus (BaltRex, Šiauliai)

Gediminas Švoba (BaltRex, Šiauliai)

Dovydas Taujanskas (BaltRex, Šiauliai)

Laurynas Tipelis (BaltRex, Šiauliai)

Justinas Urbonas (Vairas, Šiauliai)

Justinas Vasiliauskas (Vairas, Šiauliai)

Donatas Vilimavičius (Vairas, Šiauliai)

Mantautas Vilimavičius (Peterborough Lions RFC, England)

Raimondas Vinkšna (Peterborough Lions RFC, England)

Tomas Zibolis (RK Šiauliai)

vyr. treneris Irmantas Kukulskis

treneris Anatolijus Smirnovas.

Adapted from http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4195

Netherlands Squad

Tom Altink (LRC DIOK)

Johan Baas (Haagsche RC)

Caro Bakker (RC The Dukes)

Alexander Barendrecht (Haagsche RC)

Benjamin Blom (Haagsche RC)

Vinnie Booiman (RC 't Gooi)

Jay Jay Boske (RC Hilversum)

Costin Buburuzan (RC The Dukes)

Storm Carroll (RC Hilversum)

Boudewijn de Rouw (RC The Dukes)

Caine Elisara (Heidelberg)

Jeroen Fluiter (RC Hilversum)

Vincent Grimbergen (LRC DIOK)

Jasper Gubbens (RC Hilversum)

Tjebbe Jehee (LRC DIOK)

Allard Jonkers (RC 't Gooi)

Jan Ketelings (Utrecht RC)

Michiel Kuiper (Utrecht RC)

Hugo Langelaan (RC 't Gooi)

Richard van der Broek - captain (RC The Dukes)

Maarten van Osch (RC The Dukes)

Nicky Verhoeven (RC The Dukes)

Bart Viguurs (RC The Dukes)

 

Adapted from http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4195