2009 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship

The European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship was first held in 2004, in Treviso, Italy. It replaced the previously held European Under-18 Emergent Nations Championship, which had first been held in 2000.[3] The first championship in 2004 was won by France.[1]

The following two championships, held in Lille, France in 2005 and again in Treviso in 2006, were won by England. Alternating between France and Italy, the next three championships were held in Biarritz, Treviso again, and Toulon in 2009. All three were taken out by France, but of Europes top rugby playing nations, Wales and Scotland did not take part in the latest editions.[1]

The championship, similar to previous editions, was organised in an A, B, C and D Division, with A being the highest and D the lowest. Each division consisted of eight teams and each team played three competition games, with a quarter final, semi final and final/placing game.[2]

The quarter finals were played according to a seeding list, with the winners moving on to the first to fourth place semi finals while the losers would enter the fifth to eighth place semi finals.[2]

The winners of the semi finals one to four would play in the division final while the losers would play for third place. Similarly, the winners of the fifth to eighth semi finals would play for fifth place while the losers would play for seventh.[2]

The winner of the A division was crowned European champions while the eighth placed team would originally be relegated to the B division. Similarly, the winner of B, C and D division would move up a division for 2010 while the last placed teams would nominally be relegated. This meant, France was crowned European champions while Italy finished on the relegation spot, but was reprieved of relegation by England choosing not to participate in the 2010 tournament. Germany won the B division, Czech Republic the C division and Luxembourg the D. The last placed teams, for the same reason as Italy, were all spared relegation, too.[2]

With a Côte d'Azur Selection, a non-national team took part to provide even numbers in all four divisions.[2] With Armenia and Monaco, two teams took part that hadn't taken part in previous editions and would not do so again in 2010, while Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had played the previous two tournaments, did also not take part in 2010.

The teams of England, Italy and Ireland at the tournament were B selections, as these nations had committed themselves to an Under-18 Festival in Parma, Italy, where Wales and Scotland also took part. The French team however opted to take part in the European Championship instead.[3]

The games of the 2009 championship were played at the following locations:[2]

• Toulon
• Hyères
• Draguignan
• Saint-Raphaël
• La Londe-les-Maures
• La Valette-du-Var
• La Seyne-sur-Mer
• Six-Fours-les-Plages

	Quarter Finals					Semi Finals					Final
	Czech Republic		83
	Serbia		0
						Czech Republic		91
						Bulgaria		0
	Bulgaria		15
	Latvia		13
											Czech Republic		27
											Sweden		21
	Hungary		21
	Denmark		12
						Hungary		17
						Sweden		17
	Sweden		42
	Austria		0

	3rd Place Final
	1	Hungary	15
	2	Bulgaria	0

• The Hungary Sweden semi final was decided on number of tries scored, which Sweden won 3-2.

	Semi Finals					5th Place Final
	1	Monaco	13
	4	Moldova	30
						Moldova		45
						Bosnia and Herzegovina		14
	3	Côte d'Azur Selection	34
	2	Bosnia and Herzegovina	10

	7th Place Final
	1	Monaco	3
	2	Côte d'Azur Selection	29

• Quarter final awarded to Israel after problems linked to Monacos players eligibility.
• Quarter and semi final awarded to opposition after problems linked to Côte d'Azur Selection players eligibility.