The 2002–2004 European Nations Cup was the fourth edition of the newly reformed European Championship for tier 2 & 3 Rugby Union Nations. This was the second two-year cycled championship, the first to be planned from the start.
The Third division had a controversy development. The team were divided into three groups according to the ranking of previous edition to play, but there were several problems:
In pool "A" Andorra withdrew and only four teams remained.
In pool "C" Monaco were banned after the match with Finland, because of the presence of a French player that was not eligible to play for Monaco.
Again in pool "C" the match between Bulgaria and Norway was annulled because the designed referee wasn't able to arrive in Sofia and was substituted by another referee, called by the Bulgarian federation.
So the European federation decided to change from a two-years formula to a one-year formula again, considering the two matches played in Pool "C" as friendlies and turning the Pool into a short knock-out tournament held in Ibiza, Spain. Furthermore, the winners of Pools B and C were promoted, respectively, to Pools A and B for the 2003–04 edition. No promotions from Pool A to Second division were awarded, nor relegations to lower Pools.
2002, european, nations, third, division, 2002, 2004, european, nations, fourth, edition, newly, reformed, european, championship, tier, rugby, union, nations, this, second, year, cycled, championship, first, planned, from, start, third, division, controversy,. The 2002 2004 European Nations Cup was the fourth edition of the newly reformed European Championship for tier 2 amp 3 Rugby Union Nations This was the second two year cycled championship the first to be planned from the start The Third division had a controversy development The team were divided into three groups according to the ranking of previous edition to play but there were several problems In pool A Andorra withdrew and only four teams remained In pool C Monaco were banned after the match with Finland because of the presence of a French player that was not eligible to play for Monaco Again in pool C the match between Bulgaria and Norway was annulled because the designed referee wasn t able to arrive in Sofia and was substituted by another referee called by the Bulgarian federation So the European federation decided to change from a two years formula to a one year formula again considering the two matches played in Pool C as friendlies and turning the Pool into a short knock out tournament held in Ibiza Spain Furthermore the winners of Pools B and C were promoted respectively to Pools A and B for the 2003 04 edition No promotions from Pool A to Second division were awarded nor relegations to lower Pools Contents 1 Pool A 1 1 Table 1 2 Results 2 Pool B 2 1 Table 2 2 Results 3 Pool C 3 1 Semifinals 3 2 Third place final 3 3 First place final 4 See also 5 SourcesPool A editThe highest level was the Pool A with five teams nbsp Latvia relegated from second division nbsp Moldova nbsp Serbia and Montenegro nbsp Hungary promoted from Group B nbsp Andorra retired from competition Table edit Place Nation Games Points Tablepointsplayed won drawn lost for against difference1 nbsp Latvia 3 3 0 0 98 23 75 92 nbsp Moldova 3 1 1 1 64 71 7 63 nbsp Hungary 3 1 0 2 63 96 33 54 nbsp Serbia and Montenegro 3 0 1 2 58 93 35 4Results edit 5 October 2002 nbsp Latvia26 5Hungary nbsp Riga 26 April 2003 nbsp Hungary47 23Serbia and Montenegro nbsp Esztergom 26 April 2003 nbsp Latvia43 0Moldova nbsp Riga 3 May 2003 nbsp Serbia and Montenegro18 29Latvia nbsp Beograd 10 May 2003 nbsp Moldova47 11Hungary nbsp Chisinău 24 May 2003 nbsp Moldova17 17Serbia and Montenegro nbsp ChisinăuPool B editThe middle level was the Pool B with five teams nbsp Austria relegated from pool A nbsp Bosnia and Herzegovina nbsp Lithuania nbsp Luxembourg nbsp Malta promoted from pool C Table edit Place Nation Games Points Tablepointsplayed won drawn lost for against difference1 nbsp Malta 4 4 0 0 101 54 47 122 nbsp Lithuania 4 3 0 1 147 53 94 103 nbsp Luxembourg 4 2 0 2 58 113 55 84 nbsp Austria 4 1 0 3 65 88 23 65 nbsp Bosnia and Herzegovina 4 0 0 4 40 103 63 4 nbsp Malta promoted to Pool AResults edit 27 October 2002 nbsp Luxembourg21 5Bosnia and Herzegovina nbsp Cessange 23 November 2002 nbsp Malta22 18Lithuania nbsp Marsa 26 November 2002 nbsp Lithuania32 10Austria nbsp Vilnius 30 November 2002 nbsp Austria16 25Malta nbsp Wien 29 March 2003 nbsp Malta34 6Luxembourg nbsp Marsa 5 April 2003 nbsp Bosnia and Herzegovina14 20Malta nbsp Sarajevo 10 May 2003 nbsp Luxembourg25 14Austria nbsp Cessange 24 May 2003 nbsp Lithuania60 6Luxembourg nbsp Klaipeda 7 June 2003 nbsp Bosnia and Herzegovina15 37Lithuania nbsp Zenica 14 June 2003 nbsp Austria25 6Bosnia and Herzegovina nbsp WienPool C edit No official match 19 October 2002 nbsp Monaco90 0Finland nbsp Monte Carlo 26 October 2002 nbsp Bulgaria21 12Norway nbsp Sofia Semifinals edit 5 June 2003 nbsp Israel30 13Norway nbsp Ibiza 5 June 2003 nbsp Bulgaria42 3Finland nbsp Ibiza Third place final edit 7 June 2003 nbsp Finland20 55Norway nbsp Ibiza First place final edit 7 June 2003 nbsp Israel23 25Bulgaria nbsp Ibiza Bulgaria nbsp promoted to Pool BSee also edit2003 2004 European Nations Cup First Division 2002 2004 European Nations Cup Second Division 2003 2004 European Nations Cup Third DivisionSources editwww irb com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 2002 03 European Nations Cup Third Division amp oldid 985619305, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
