The autumn part of the season is always interesting because a new cycle of national team competitions begins. And this season will definitely be very interesting because the groups have changed. In national competitions, we will get the Serbian Champion and the winner of the Serbian Cup. As for the younger categories, 1st of september is quite crucial because that’s when the years are changed by age categories.
Maybe we are already boring, but every start of the half-season is quite exciting for us, because the talk is about rugby. What will the teams look like, how much will they strengthen, how much will the game improve. It is equally interesting in the younger selection to see who will take over the primacy after the age change. Will we see the formation of new selections by clubs? Will new clubs be formed?
When we have already mentioned that topic, it should be said that during the World Cup, the participation of the number of participants in domestic rugby always increases. These are not some megalomaniac numbers, but everyone likes when they play sports and when that sport is current and covered by the media. And rugby is very well followed in the world media, but it will be followed in ours as well when there are decisive matches.
The Serbian national team is facing big challenges
We will remind you that the Rugby Europe formed new groups. Namely, previously you had Conference 1 South and North and Conference 2 South and North. Now those 4 groups are mixed and distributed geographically to rationalize costs. According to the new schedule, Serbia is in a group with Moldova, Bulgaria, Turkey and Montenegro. The Montenegrins immediately declared that they could not afford such a group and gave up the competition, they will most likely be transferred to the development group. Out of the planned 4 games, we won 3 in this cycle, the same as last season.
Our first opponent will be Moldova, with whom we will meet in Chisinau on the 7th of october. We will announce the start of the match later. There is no new information on the website of the Rugby Europe, which surprises us, because it would be logical for them to be active during the World Cup. That will be our only match this fall, we will play the remaining two in the spring of 2024 . Moldovans are an extremely strong team. You can read more about their selection in our article here.
You have to be realistic and get the most out of these matches because we think that the Moldovans are a big deal for us at the moment. But you need to cross fists with strong oponents. We have a winning streak, the players have changed their mentality completely, we know we are winning. We need to see where we are at the moment and we need to constantly gain experience and learn. The coach of Serbia, Mišel Milović, will prepare the team in the best possible way, with the aim of providing the best game and achieving a positive result. You can follow the schedule of matches and the table on our website page.
The Serbian championship without any uncertainty
After Partizan’s withdrawal from the competition and after Rad’s high margin victories over Torpedo and Dinamo, we can expect nothing more than Rad defending the title without much difficulty. As a reminder, the Serbian Championship is played in a three-round round-robin system. Given that there are only three teams left in the competition, each of them will play a total of 6 games by the end of the season. Which is very little for the highest level of competition in Serbia.
Since there is no playoff, and Dinamo has already lost two games against Rad, we can be absolutely sure that the Belgraders will not have too many problems. Also, the very outcome of the competition made the Championship extremely uninteresting to follow and watch, because it does not offer us any excitement. If there is even a final, let’s say that until the last game it is not known who will win the cup. Everything is certain like this. When you have such a situation, it is very difficult to motivate the players to complete the pre-season in the right way, so it is not surprising that the clubs started very late to prepare for the fall. All this will affect the condition of the players before the match of the national team.
We have a special page on our website where you can follow the schedule of matches, the table and the list of scorers. Don’t forget to enter each game individually because we tried our best and listed the teams with all the points scored.
2nd grade Serbian Championship has never been more interesting
Although a little to the detriment of the A group, we must say that the B group is very attractive to watch. As a reminder, rugby 10 is played in the B group, and 7 tournaments were announced for the 2023 season. In the spring part, three tournaments were played, while one tournament was cancelled. Three more tournaments are played in the fall. The team that wins the most points wins the B group.
It is interesting that a total of 5 clubs have participated so far. All have played at least two tournaments. There aren’t too many high-scoring matches, but that’s why there are plenty of interesting matches where everyone can beat everyone. So far, BRK Crvena Zvezda, RK Rad 2, RK Dorćol 1998, RK Vojvodina and RK Kruševac have taken part. It is quite possible that some other team will join later, we are thinking of RK Loznica or RK Borac from Starčevo, whose boys are slowly getting ready for senior rugby.
At any time on our page that follows the 2nd grade, you can see the tournament schedule, as well as the results from each tournament when you click on each one individually. There is also a table and a list of scorers.
Serbian Cup
The Serbian Cup should are sceduled for November. Registration of teams and the draw should be done during October.
Change of generation in U18s
One of the better U18s that we had was the class of 2004, and they have now gone up to the seniors. The leading players in almost all clubs were players of that year. We will see how well other generations will manage to fill that void. From 1st of september players born in 2005 and 2006 can play for U18s . Also, players born in 2007 can play only with special premision .
Unlike previous years, 5 teams were registered for the competition. There are RK Rad, RK Dinamo 1954, RK Borac Starčevo, RK Kruševac and RK Čelik. The team from Zenica participates out of competition in all junior category competitions under the auspices of the Rugby Union of Serbia. The plan is to play a series of three tournaments in total. Игра се у формату рагбија 7. The plan is to play a series of three tournaments in total. The first tournament was supposed to start last weekend, but it was postponed.
The plan was also to play test matches of the junior national XVs team. We have no information whether these activities will be released. Once we know more, we’ll be sure to post that information.
You can always keep up-to-date with the events in U18s competitions through our website. Tournament table and schedule.
Who will takeover U16s Championship?
It will be very interesting in the U16s competition. To be honest, we can’t wait to see how the balance of power plays out. A total of 6 teams registered for the competition. The defending champion is the RK Rad team, which will also be the first favorite in the competition. Although their 2006 generation, which dominated for two years, went to the U18s, the Belgraders have extremely quality players who will take their place. Just behind them is Dinamo from Pancevo, from whom we expect a significant improvement compared to last season. Their fantastic class of 2008 will have room to prove and show. BRK Crvena Zvezda will be one of the teams that will fight for the highest ranking. He will be younger than Rad and Dinamo, but you expect the red and white to play fantastic games.
When we talk about interesting teams, we must also mention Čelik from Zenica, which has an extremely strong team, which will certainly fight for the highest ranking. The boys from Zenica will perform outside the competition, but what a game it will be. RK Dorćol 1998 will look for a connection to the leading teams, they are expected to be strengthened by the boys from Torpedo. Therefore, it would be a very strong composition that could spoil the plans of many. The boys from Kruševac class of 2006, leading players go to U18s. The younger players are expected to take responsibility and play at the level of previous seasons.
It is designed for the U16s to play a total of 3 tournaments. The team that collects the most points at the end of the competition will also win. It is played in a rugby 10s format. U16s are allowed to play a total of 60 minutes of effective rugby per day. Players born in 2007 and 2008 can play for U16s . Also, players born in 2009 can play only with special premision. It would be ideal if the tournaments lasted two days and a lot more effective rugby was played during the weekend, then each team could have 120 minutes of rugby in their legs, the games would last longer and it would be incomparably more interesting.
Mainly in the U16s, we expect the most interesting and exciting matches of all younger categories. If you would like to follow everything related to the cadets, you can do it on the page of our website, where you can see the tournament schedule as well as the table. When you click on each completed tournament you can also see the results.
Also in the plan is the formation of a selection that will perform under the name of the Rugby Academy of Serbia (RAS) at the U16 international tournament in Zagreb “Krtica 2023”.
Everything is open in the competition of U14s
Ten teams were registered for the competition in the U14s competition. Considering that the class of 2008, which was the most numerous, went to U16s, we do not believe that all teams will be able to make teams. At least not immediately, because the new school year also brings new recruitments in schools. Given that last winter there was not much success in bringing in new players, now we think that the situation will be significantly different. The World Cup is in progress, which is broadcast on Sport Club, the matches are very popular and attractive, so it will be a completely different picture during the children’s animation.
Participating in the competition will be: RK Dinamo 1954, BRK Crvena Zvezda, RK Torpedo Mlava, RK Dorćol 1998, RK Rad, RK Žarkovo, RAS Smederevo, RK Borac Starčevo, RK Kruševac and RK Čelik. There are three tournaments in the series and will be played in a rugby ten-a-side format. Players born in 2009 and 2010 can play for U14s, while players bor in 2011 can play with special premision.
The teams are pretty even. And in order to give a more detailed forecast, we would have to see them in action. Considering the results of previous seasons, we can single out RK Čelik and BRK Crvena Zvezda as favorites. Although we think that the competition will be quite open and will largely depend on the animation and recruitment of children.
You can follow the U14s competition on our page, where you can see the competition schedule and the table.
U12s from the very beginning
The biggest unknown for now, because the question is whether most clubs have teams. The first tournament is scheduled for the end of September or the beginning of October. Just enough time to make presentations and fill out teams. 9 teams were registered for the competition. On our page you can view the registered teams as well as the tournament schedule.
