Swiss Men's 7s takes 7th place at Rugby Europe Tournament
Burgas, Bulgaria, 02-03 July 2016 – The Swiss Men’s 7s team finished the Rugby Europe Conference 1 tournament (ex European Championship Group C) in 7th place with 2 wins and 4 losses over the weekend. Switzerland was able to introduce 5 new players into the 7s squad, all coming out of the Swiss player development system, through the U18 and U20 programmes, promising a bright future for Swiss 7s Rugby.
After a difficult preparation period,due to the lack of player availabilities which led to cancellations of preparation tournaments, the Swiss 7s programme rebuilt its selection, focusing on young promising talent coming out of its XVs national team and detection programme.
The team’s talent and growing cohesion was visible throughout the tournament, as the squad improved match by match over the course of the two days together in Bulgaria.
The team opened its weekend with a 5-12 loss to Slovakia followed by a 5-19 loss to Serbia. In tis third match, the Swiss team was starting to find its rhythm as it lost in a hard-fought match by one try to eventual tournament bronze-medallist Hungary: 19-26. In its last match of the opening day, the Swiss team had found its way into its game and despite the fatigue of 3 previous matches in the summer heat, beat Bosnia & Herzegovina by 19-7, finishing the day in 3rd place of its group.
This set Switzerland up for a Plate Division semi-final on Sunday against Norway. Switzerland again lost by one try 5-12, and therefore faced Bosnia & Herzegovina again to battle for 7th-8th place in the tournament. Switzerland left no doubt in this match, and won 33-0, securing 7th place in the tournament, the same result as the previous year.
The Swiss Men’s 7s programme and domestic 7s competition will be undergoing a complete restructuring for the upcoming season, and the Swiss Rugby Union is excited to relaunch its technical 7s commission into this mission, together with the Technical Department and Director of the FSR.
All results as well as Match videos of both days available by following the Links below.
