Serbia below the expected result
Even though we were among the youngest teams, we expected much more from Baby Eagles, because they can provide a lot more. Apart from the first and the last match, we did not show great performances. It remains for us to analyze our matches, draw lessons and make the necessary improvements to the game, especially the speed of the game itself.
The fact is that we had a very strong group, where in the end it turned out that Romania and Latvia will play in the final, and that those two teams will play next year in a higher rank. But that is not a reason or justification. We knew that the Romanians would be the strongest team in the tournament, but we were taken aback by the Latvians. In our opinion, they played perhaps the best rugby sevens in the tournament.
We also had several injuries that excluded our starters from the tournament at the very beginning. We don’t want all of this to sound like an excuse, but we want to highlight what happened so that we can analyze the competition itself in the best possible way.
Scores, table, battle for ranking
The group was extremely difficult, because at the end of the day, the teams that played in the final were also there. However, Moldova and Austria were rivals that could be played with. We did not shine in those matches, especially against Moldova, which also did not shine, that is, we can freely say that it was the worst game in general in the entire European Championship. The matches against Moldova and Austria were crucial for us because they decided the battle for ranking.
Results in group phase:
In the end, with one win and 3 losses, we finished the competition within the group in 4th place ,where we qualified for the playoffs for the battle from 9th to 12th place.
In the playoffs, the rival was the Hungarian team, which was at a high enough level to beat us and push us into the fight for 11th place .
Finally in the match for 11th place, Serbia played much better, more enthusiastically and faster. In the end, we defeated Andorra, who played with one less player for most of the match.
Serbia squad:
Igor Gajić, Strahinja Glišić, Dragan Konaković, Ognjen Siljanovski, Vuk Simić, Matej Petrović, Milan Vesković, Lazar Jelisavčić, Dušan Jovanović, Filip Vidaković, Matija Pelva, Pavle Pelva and Aleksa Milanković.
Head coach: Aleksandar Nedeljković
Coach: Radivoje Ćosić
Manager: Marko Žeravica
Doctor: Maja Velinović
3 takeaways
A very young Serbian national team
No, we don’t want to make exuse the poor ranking, but we want to mention that we have a very young team. Before the start of the tournament, there were 3 players born in 2005 in our team, 8 players born in 2006, and 2 players born in 2007 . A very young team for whom this tournament will serve as a great experience and a great lesson for the next season.
Certainly we expected much more from them, in our opinion they are worth much more. Some will even say that they may have succumbed to the pressure. One thing we have to remember is that these are kids who want to learn and enjoy rugby for many years. A great coach once said: Losers quit when they lose, winners lose until they win.”
Serbia's game tempo were very slow
If we exclude the first and last match of the tournament, we can safely say that we were by far the slowest team in the tournament. The flow of the ball was so slow that almost all teams closed us down with ease. Some teams even kept us in the essay, where we failed to get the ball out once. It seemed at certain moments that we had no strength, as if we had no fitness. In all the matches, our players could barely catch their breath, were on the ground non-stop, complaining about their injuries. In the matches against Moldova and Latvia, it seemed that no one could run more aggressively across half the field, as if no one could make a breakthrough and take 10-20 meters.
If you want to play rugby sevens at a high level, you have to be fast, aggressive, mobile, you have to read the game well. We were particularly bothered by the fact that our playmakers do not have a safe left spin pass, instead they turn to the right and pass the ball. We had one situation where two players in one attack were passing the ball from the left hand to the right, and instead of running forward, they were retreating backwards. The ball reached our winger, who is normally very quick and agile and who was closed and could not play 1v1. In modern rugby, the posts are expected to have accurate and passing points, not to mention what is expected of the playmakers. You play for the U18 juniors, you can’t allow yourself not to throw a spin pass from one side, that’s what you learn in the juniors.
Until the last match, we didn’t see Serbia playing fast and taking quick penalties. We have fast players, yet we play slowly. It was only in the last match against Andorra, which we think is a good team, that we started to play much faster and that gave drastic results. Immediately there was a high score, a large number of given points and a much more spirited game. That’s the recipe for how we should play. To be honest, we can’t play fast against the Romanians, but we can’t kick the ball out of bounds for half a minute against the Moldovans, while we’re losing and there are less than two minutes left in the match.
A few of competitive games and no preparatory tournaments
A very serious thing to pay attention to. If you look at the competition in the spring half-season in the U16s competition, where 10 out of 13 players from the European Championship participated, you will see that the differences are huge. The first-placed team is better than the second-placed team by more than 100 points. When that’s the situation, then there is nothing from the progress and development of rugby, because no one develops on high results. Very often we will hear someone say how good it is when you play games against better teams because you will steel yourself. The result is completely reversed, mostly players who play for weaker teams give up in such competitions.
If you want to have a successful national team, you must organize preparatory tournaments, where players gain experience and have professional practice before the official competition. Yes, it costs money, but you can’t expect to get a quality product with minimal investment.
For example, a preparatory tournament could be held where Balkan teams would participate. That the matches will be played by Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia. Slovenia and Montenegro can also be invited. The tournament can last a whole day or be played in two days, where the teams would get a sufficient number of preparatory games, and most certainly all national selections would be more prepared for the European Championship.
