1995–1997 FIRA Trophy

1995-97 FIRA Trophy
1995-97 FIRA Trophy
Date	19 November 1995 – 23 May 1997
Countries	Italy ; Russia; Italy
Matches played	41
← 1992–1994 (Previous)	(Next) 1996–1997 →

The 1995–1997 FIRA Trophy was the 31st edition of the European rugby union championship for national teams. The 1995-97 edition was arranged once again with a new format.

Due preparations for the 1995 Rugby World Cup, France, Italy and Romania did not participate in the 1994-95 season of the competition, so for that season a Preliminary Tournament was arranged with ten other teams. The higher ranked seven teams were admitted to this tournament, with France, Italy and Romania.

The tournament was undergoing a difficult time, due to decreased interest from the strongest teams: France usually sent reserve teams, and Italy were playing matches with the likes of Australia, England and Wales.

This is evident looking the results and the programme. France played the first round robin with their Military team, Italy and Romania did not arrange a match for this tournament, but played a match on neutral ground against Argentina for the "Latina Cup". Italy sent two lower level teams to play (during the same weekend) the last two matches. The previous edition's final between Italy and France was played in March 1997, while the 1996-97 edition was already half completed.

This edition was the first ever triumph of Italy in the competition, defeating France by 40-32 in the final,^[1] ^[2] 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's win, shortly after France had won 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
Place	Nation	played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff.	Table points
1	France	4	0	194	29	+165	12
2	Spain	4	3	0	1	91	90	+1	10
3	Russia	4	2	0	2	37	95	-58	8
4	Morocco	4	1	0	3	41	70	-29	6
5	Tunisia	4	0	4	11	78	-67	2

France qualified to Final

19 November 1995

France Military

G. Giacomel

10 December 1995

Tunisia

A. Fernandez

6 January 1996

Morocco

I. Atorrasagasti

16 March 1996

Morocco

D. Salles

16 March 1996

France Military

J. Mendes da Silva

31 March 1996

Spain France XV

Estadi Baldiri Aleu, Sant Boi de Llobregat

14 April 1996

Spain Russia
Try: Velazco Querol, Gallastegui, Souto, Tayeb (2), Gerendiaga Nanclares (3) Con: Gerendiaga Nanclares (4) Pen: Gerendiaga Nanclares (3)		Pen: Yakovlev (2)

Campo Universitario, Madrid

28 April 1996

Spain Tunisia

Madrid

11 May 1996

Morocco

I. Aguirre

19 May 1996

Russia

Tunis

Pool B

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
Place	Nation	played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff.	Table points
1	Italy	4	0	249	35	+214	12
2	Romania	4	3	0	1	218	54	+164	10
3	Portugal	4	2	0	2	70	177	-107	8
4	Poland	4	1	0	3	61	195	-134	6
5	Belgium	4	0	4	43	180	-137	4

Italy qualified to the final

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.)

21 October 1995	Italy	40 - 3	Romania	Stadium Etcheverri, Buenos Aires
	Try: Checchinato 2, Mazzariol, Moscardi, Roselli Con: Bonomi 3 Pen: Bonomi 3		Pen: Besarau	Referee: Efraim Sklar
Italy: 15. Paolo Vaccari, 14. Fabio Roselli, 13. Marco Platania, 12. Ivan Francescato, 11. Francesco Mazzariol, 10. Massimo Bonomi, 9. Alessandro Troncon, 8. Carlo Checchinato, 7. Andrea Sgorlon, 6. Massimo Giovanelli, 5. Mark Giacheri, 4. Pierpaolo Pedroni, 3. Andrea Castellani, 2. Carlo Orlandi, 1. Massimo Cuttitta (cap.) - replacements: 16. Alessandro Moscardi, 17. Orazio Arancio, 18. Carlo Caione, 19. Gabriel Filizzola				Referee: Efraim Sklar
Romania: 15. Valentin Maftei, 14. Gheorghe Solomie, 13. Marius Nedelcu, 12. Tiberiu Luca, 11. Radu Fugigi, 10. Vasile Besărău, 9. Vasile Flutur, 8. Adrian Gîrbu, 7. Alexandru Gealapu, 6. Andrei Gurănescu, 5. Constantin Cojocariu (cap.), 4. Micușor Marin, 3. Adrian Saălăgeanu, 2. Ionel Negreci, 1. Gabriel Vlad - replacements: 16. Ionel Rotaru, 17. Cătălin Drăguceanu, 18. Dragoș Niculae, 19. Constantin Dragnea

28 October 1995

Poland Belgium

Łódź

3 March 1996	Portugal	3 - 64	Italy	Lisbon University Stadium, Lisbon
	Pen: N. Gomes		Try: Babbo (2), Domínguez Francescato (2), Mazzucato, Orlandi, Platania (2), Properzi Con: Domínguez	Referee: García Mostaza
Portugal: 15. José Gomes, 14. Pedro Murinello, 13. Nuno Durão, 12. Nuno Mourão, 11. Rohan Hoffmann, 10. Nuno Gomes, 9. Luís Pissarra, 8. Pedro Castro, 7. António Cunha, 6. João Catulo, 5. José Luís Rodrigues, 4. Pedro Rogério Arsénio, 3. Joaquim Ferreira, 2. Paulo Silva, 1. José Pedro Costa - replacements: 16. Vasco Durão, 17. Éric Galvão, 18. Alexandre Lima				Referee: García Mostaza
Italy: 15. Massimo Ravazzolo, 14. Nicola Mazzucato, 13. Marco Platania, 12. Ivan Francescato, 11. Simone Babbo, 10. Diego Dominguez, 9. Gianluca Guidi, 8. Orazio Arancio, 7. Andrea Sgorlon, 6. Carlo Caione, 5. Roberto Favaro, 4. Andrea Gritti, 3. Franco Properzi, 2. Carlo Orlandi, 1. Massimo Cuttitta (cap.) - replacements: 16. Piergiorgi Menapace, 17. Riccardo Piovan, 18. Francesco Mazzariol, 19. Walter Cristofoletto

16 March 1996

Belgium Portugal

King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels

13 April 1996

Romania

A. Condorelli

This was the heaviest defeat of Portugal until their defeat to New Zealand (108-13) at the 2007 Rugby World Cup

19 April 1996

Romania A Belgium

Stadionul Dinamo, Bucharest

27 April 1996

Portugal Poland

Lisbon University Stadium, Lisbon

12 May 1996

Poland Romania

Sochaczew

24 May 1996

Belgium Emerging Italy^[3]

King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels

25 May 1996

Italy A

D. Artigeas

Final

22 March 1997

France

France

Fabien Pelous (c.)


FB	15	FB
RW	14	RW
OC	13	OC
IC	12	IC
LW	11	LW
FH	10	FH
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

Massimo Giovanelli (c.)

Second Division

Pool 1 (Gold)

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
Place	Nation	played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff.	Table points
1	Netherlands	4	3	1	0	107	31	+76	11
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 Czech Republic

Hanover

15 October 1995

Georgia Germany
Try: Iurini Pen: E. Dzagnidze, D. Dzagnidze (2)		Pen: Kocher

National Stadium, Tbilisi

29 October 1995

Denmark Netherlands

Copenhagen

19 November 1995

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 Georgia

Castricum

30 March 1996

Czech Republic Netherlands

Říčany

12 April 1996

Georgia Czech Republic
Try: Iurini, Jimsheladze, Kavtarachvili Con: Modebadze Pen: Machitidze		Pen: Stourac

Vake Stadium, Tbilisi

21 April 1996

Netherlands Germany

Sportpark Berestein, Hilversum

27 April 1996

Czech Republic Denmark

Říčany

12 May 1996

Germany Denmark

Hanover

Pool 2 (Silver)

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
Place	Nation	played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff.	Table points
1	Yugoslavia	2	0	69	21	+48	6
2	Andorra	2	1	0	1	25	38	-13	4
3	Bulgaria	2	0	2	17	52	-35	2

24 March 1996

Yugoslavia Andorra

20 April 1996

Andorra Bulgaria

Andorra-la-Vella

18 June 1996

Bulgaria Yugoslavia

Third Division

Pool 1

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
Place	Nation	played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff.	Table points
1	Ukraine	3	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	3	38	76	-38	3

1 May 1996

Ukraine Moldova

Kyiv

11 May 1996

Latvia Lithuania

10 October 1996

Latvia Ukraine

Riga

21 October 1996

Latvia Moldova

Riga

1996

Lithuania Ukraine

Vilnius

1996

Lithuania Moldova

Pool 2

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
Place	Nation	played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff.	Table points
1	Austria	2	1	0	1	31	20	+11	4
2	Hungary	2	1	42	32	+10	4
3	Slovenia	2	1	0	1	23	44	-21	4

5 November 1995

Austria Hungary

Wien

20 April 1996

Slovenia Austria

11 May 1996

Hungary Slovenia

Kecskemét

Pool 3

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
Place	Nation	played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff.	Table points
1	Croatia	2	0	37	18	+19	6
2	Israel	2	1	0	1	26	33	-7	4
3	Luxembourg	2	0	2	24	36	-12	2

28 October 1995

Luxembourg Croatia

Luxembourg

7 April 1996

Israel Luxembourg

Tel Aviv

27 April 1996

Croatia Israel

Split

Notes and references

^ Rémy Fiere (24 March 1997). the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
^ Emanuele Rossano (23 March 1997). the original on 18 February 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2008.
^ This team was based on the "Students' team", preparing for the incoming University World Cup, reinforced with the presence of the national captain Massimo Giovanelli

Bibliography

(in Italian) Francesco Volpe, Valerio Vecchiarelli (2000), 2000 Italia in Meta, Storia della nazionale italiana di rugby dagli albori al Sei Nazioni, GS Editore (2000) ISBN 88-87374-40-6.
(in Italian) Francesco Volpe, Paolo Pacitti (Author), Rugby 2000, GTE Gruppo Editorale (1999).
"European Cup FIRA Trophy First Division 1994/96". The Rugby Archive. 13 December 2018. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.

[1] Rémy Fiere (24 March 1997). the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2021.

[2] Emanuele Rossano (23 March 1997). the original on 18 February 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2008.

[3] This team was based on the "Students' team", preparing for the incoming University World Cup, reinforced with the presence of the national captain Massimo Giovanelli

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e 20th-century FIRA rugby union international tournaments
Pre–WWII tournaments	1936 1937 1938
European Cup	1952 1954
FIRA Nations Cup	1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73
FIRA Trophy	1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–87 1987–89 1989–90 1990–92 1992–94 1995–97
Other tournaments	1992–93 1994–95 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99
FIRA (Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur), 1934–1999