The autumn part of the competition always brings us a lot of interest and excitement. The end of the competition awaits us in the Serbian Championship. The Serbian Cup is traditionally played at the end of the season immediately after the end of the Championship. In the younger categories, competitions in the Serbian Championship are reserved for the fall. It will be extremely interesting to see how the teams look after the year changes.
In October, a new competition cycle begins under the auspices of the Rugby Europe. As last year, we will compete in the Conference 2 South group. We are expecting a difficult away game in Turkey and a match against Montenegro at home. Also, the U18 national team of Serbia will play a test match against Croatia away from home, which is a continuation of the internship that took place last spring in Zagreb.
Rugby fans will have plenty of opportunities to enjoy themselves until the end of the season. We would especially like to highlight the younger categories, which are well worth following, because there are a lot of talented players. Clubs have invested a lot in recent years in the youth department, that is why they can reap results in the form of trained players who are ready to play in the seniors. In the Competitions section of our website, you can follow the results, tables and scorers’ lists. The editors will try to cover as many activities as possible with reports, so there will be plenty of interesting articles.
Conference 2 South 2022-2024
Rugby Europe has once again changed the competition system. Instead of a single-round system where everyone plays each other, it will be played in a two-round system. From this season, four national teams will compete in our group: Montenegro, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. This autumn we will visit Turkey and welcome Montenegro. Once we know the exact schedule, we will update the competition on our site so you can follow it properly.
The good thing is that the two-round competition system is coming back, which is also the fairest, because at our level, the teams are not the same at home and away. Serbia is the slight favorite in the group in our opinion, because we think we have the most quality. Words are one thing and actions are another, that must be proven on the field. The first opportunity will be against Montenegro, where we will play on August 8th at home. A week later we play away against Turkey, where we can expect a very difficult game. We can expect the continuity of the game from the previous cycle and hope for good results.
U18 national team of Serbia
Our juniors will play a test match against Croatia away from home. The match is planned to take place on 08/09. of october. We can consider the match as a continuation of the work of the U18 internship from Zagreb. To remind, in the mini matches in Zagreb, Serbia defeated Croatia and Bulgaria. Then a game was played in Petrovac na Mlava against Bulgaria, which our juniors won with a score of 51-8. We hope that the U18s National Team will have as many activities as possible, because we have extremely high-quality players who would gain much-needed experience in such matches.
Serbian Championship
This half-season will be extremely busy for all clubs in the competition. A large number of matches await us, among other things, the playing of quite a few postponed matches from the spring part. With the Cup and representative duties, it will be quite intense. Do not be surprised if one of the clubs fails to complete the competition. Simply, the teams are in a big problem regarding the number of players in the senior competition, it is already a problem that has been going on for several seasons. Also, a lot of juniors play for seniors, and they have a lot of obligations, both in the Championship and for the National Team.
Can the Championship title be decided already in the first game of the season?
This season, the game is played in a round robin, according to the one-on-one system. There is no playoff game. Each team would play 12 games at the end of the competition. The team with the most points at the end of the competition wins the title of Serbian Champion. This kind of competition system is not bad, however, it has one big flaw, which is that the title of the Champion can be decided already in the middle of the season. Then the question arises, what is the motivation of the teams and players to compete until the end when everything is already over. All leagues in Europe play playoffs, because they don’t want to let everything be decided in the middle of the season, the point of the competition is to be interesting and uncertain until the end. No sponsor is interested in investing in a competition that no one follows. Serbia is the only country in Europe, maybe even in the world, where the playoffs are not played.
Match day 9 is played on Sunday, where RK Rad and RK Partizan meet. The stakes are high. If Partizan wins, they will already have two victories over Rado and it will be enough for them to win all the games until the end of the season (the third game with Rado will not have any significance) and win the title. It shouldn’t be a difficult task because all the teams, except for Rad, are currently very far in terms of quality compared to the black and whites. If Rad beats Partizan, the decision on the Champion will fall on the match day 14 , where the winner of the championship will be decided in a direct match. To be honest, both teams are two spears better than the others in the competition. So anything but sure wins with a bonus point can be classified as a surprise.
The fight for the third position
BRK Crvena Zvezda, RK Dinamo 1954 and RK Torpedo Mlava will lead the fight for the third position in the table. The Zvezda and Dinamo teams are very young and have a future ahead of them. This is Torpedo’s first season in the highest level of the competition, so every experience is invaluable. As we said earlier in the text, there is a great danger that one of these three teams will not finish the competition. All teams have eight more matches to play, which is quite a number for one half-season by our standards. We would like the teams to play all the games, but we think the reality is that the third place will be won by the team that will stay in the competition and have the least number of negative points.
Serbian Championship B
In the spring, only one tournament took place, where teams from Vojvodina and Kruševac took part. It is planned to hold three more tournaments until the end of the season. It will be interesting to see if another team will join the competition and what the fight for first place will look like. Vojvodina are big favorites to win the B League, which they proved in the only tournament played, where they convincingly defeated the home team. Although they were convincingly defeated, Kruševljani have a very young and promising team, so as the season goes on, they will surely reduce the gap over Novi Sad.
Cup of Serbia
It is traditionally played after the end of the Championship. When we know the scedule we will announce the news.
Serbian Championship for U18 juniors
Let’s be honest, we can’t wait. Why? Well, because this year’s Championship will be the most uncertain and interesting ever. This competition is the best evidence of the thorough and quality work of the Rugby Union of Serbia and clubs on player development. Each of the clubs in the competition is capable of beating each. For U18s, the Championship is played in rugby 7, which is an Olympic discipline. A series of four tournaments is played, where the team that collects the most points will win the title of Serbian Champions. Players who were born in 2004 and 2005 have the right to perform in the U18s competition . ,while players who were born in 2006. they must have a special permission to perform.
For us, Dinamo and Rad are the favorites to win the Championship. Pančevci are defending the title they won last season. It will be difficult for them because they were left without Voštic and Pal, who moved to the seniors. At Rad, none of the key players have moved on to the seniors, so the entire team from last year is performing this year as well.
Kruševac, Borac, Zvezda and Celik can absolutely get involved in the fight for first place. Each of the mentioned teams has the quality and continuity to achieve good results. Kruševljani were left without Krsmanović, who went to the seniors, but they have key players who entered the last year of junior training, so we can expect a good result from them. Borac has at his disposal the complete team from last year, the injured players have healed their injuries, so we hope for good games. Zvezda was left without Lučić, Ilić and Lojanica, who no longer have the right to perform for the juniors, but there are players who were exceptional last year and who can respond to challenges and achieve a good ranking. Čelik has an excellent school of rugby, and has always provided good games. We expect them to be in the upper house this Championship.
We strongly advise fans to watch the U18 competition, because there is a lot to see. It would be nice if the tournaments were recorded, but we think it is unlikely to happen. We will definitely follow the competition and player development with great pleasure.
Championship of Serbia U16 cadets
The Serbian Championship for U16 cadets is played in the format of rugby 10. In total, there will be 4 tournaments on the program. The team that wins the most points at the end of the competition wins the title of Champion. A total of 6 teams applied for the competition: RK Borac Starčevo, RK Rad, RK Dorćol 1998, RK Dinamo 1954, RK Čelik and RK Kruševac. Players born in 2006 and 2007have the right to participate , while players who were born in 2008. can perform with special permission.
We are of the opinion that this competition will be the most certain in terms of placement. The Rad team is the absolute favorite, while the Borac and Čelik teams will fight for second place. The other teams are far behind these three. We even think that it would be good to make two qualitative groups in the tournament, in order to avoid too high results and injuries.
Serbian Championship U14 pioneers
Another treat from the competition for rugby fans. As with juniors, we will have a large number of teams fighting for the highest ranking. Don’t forget, the stronger the competition, the higher the level of play. A quality generation that is represented in several clubs and to which special attention should be paid in order to persevere until the juniors and later seniors. It is planned to play 4 tournaments in the format of rugby 10. The team that wins the most points wins the title of Serbian Champion. 7 teams applied for the competition: RK Žarkovo, RK Rad, BRK Crvena Zvezda, RK Dinamo 1954, RK Torpedo Mlava, RK Dorćol 1998 and RK Čelik. Players born in 2008 and 2009 have the right to participate , while players who were born in 2010. can perform with special permission.
Anyone who follows rugby in the younger categories already knows that a big fight will be fought between four teams. Rad, Dinamo, Zvezda and Celik will definitely be the main favourites. The fight will be extremely interesting and we can’t wait for the competition to start so that they can enjoy quality matches. Dorćol and Torpedo are teams that can mess with favorites. The people of Dorćol have been working hard for years, and as time goes by, they reduce the backlog and become more and more competitive. Petrovčani have an extremely physically strong team that can easily take over as the competition progresses. Žarkovci are the youngest team, where the main team will be made up of younger pioneers, so the most important thing for them is to gather as much experience as possible, but don’t be surprised if they shine and make a good result.
Serbian Championship U12 cockerels
Three tournaments in the Championship are planned for the U12s. The reason why there are not four is that there will be promotions in schools during September. The first tournament will be held only after the promotions. It is played in the rugby 8 format. In total, seven teams applied for the competition: RK Rad, RK Čelik, RK Dinamo 1954, RK Dorćol 1998, RK Borac Starčevo, RK Žarkovo and BRK Crvena Zvezda. Players born in 2010 and 2011 have the right to compete , while players who were born in 2012. can compete with special permission.
As for the competition situation itself, we have to be honest that we cannot give a more meaningful assessment. After the first tournament, we will have some kind of picture of how well-coordinated and strong the teams are. School presentations will most certainly last throughout the fall, so it’s best to wait for the first tournament and see what the teams look like.
