Conference 2 South decider
Winner takes all. Not a lot of philosophy here. Although if there is a draw, Serbia will keep the first position in the table. Both teams have two victories so far. The Eagles do have two wins with bonus points, so we have 10 points and Bosnia and Herzegovina 8. You can see the table as well as the results on our page.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has played two rather intense matches so far. At home, they celebrated against tricky Turkey with a score of 25-13. The Turks threatened throughout the match, but Bosnia and Herzegovina seemed to be in control of the game, which they eventually closed out expertly. While away from home, they narrowly avoided a sensation and celebrated with points in a thriller ending against Montenegro with a score of 20-18. The betrayal against the Montenegrins should worry them, because they allowed themselves to fight for victory in the last attack of the match, in a game where they were absolute favorites. At the end of the day, it’s the winning that counts.
Serbia was quite convincing against Montenegro at home, where they won 62-0. While she struggled a lot in the match against Turkey on the away court, where we won 23-6, with a bonus point. From the result, you certainly cannot see how uncertain the game was, where one detail totally turned the course of the match in our favor. And that was the moment when Nikola Stanković and Aleksandar Đorđević played a great defensive game that saved an almost certain try.
The winner of the group will be promoted, or not?
Rugby Europe has once again taken care to create complete confusion on this issue. Originally, the plan was to keep the groups locked for two years. Then we thought that the competition would be two-round, where all teams would play each other both at home and away. As it was a few years ago, when one cycle lasted two years. However, it seems that this is not the case either, because it is clearly written on their website that the game will only be played in the 2022/2023 season.
So anything is possible. If that sounds strange to you, just think back to last year when the competition was completely messed up. However, in any case, we should first wait for the end of the competition and finally see what the decision of the Rugby Europe will be. When everything is officially decided and published, then we will dive into further analysis.
World Rugby Federation ranking list
We wrote about this last year, that is, how much progress Serbia can make if it wins Bosnia and Herzegovina. We have explained how the points are calculated and how far anyone can advance. We advise you to remind yourself if you have forgotten, and you can do so via this link.
Maybe it doesn’t matter where Serbia is in the ranking list. But we remind you that sport is a competition, and the result is important in the competition. If someone tells you that in amateur sports the result is not important, you should remind him that in recreation the result is not important. And in competitive sports it is.
Match information
Hometown: Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Venue: Kamberovića polje
Game date: 29.04.2023. .
Kickoff: 14:00h
Weather forecast: Mostly sun, 17C
How to watch the game live?
You can watch the match live on the website of the European Rugby Federation. You need to register an account on the site, then log in and go to the Bosnia and Herzegovina – Serbia match page, and there you will have the option to watch the match live. If you can’t find your way, click here.
8 key facts
How will Serbia respond to the pressure of Bosnia and Herzegovina scrum?
This is a key question for the coaching staff led by coach Mišel Milović. In the last match, we had quite a few problems with pushing, where we could have easily received penalties and eventually yellow cards. We were saved by the indiscipline of the opponent, who in certain moments lifted the ball from the scrum instead of continuing to push and cause new penalties. Then Ivan Rodić entered the game, who contributed with his experience to stabilize the scrum and neutralize the onslaught of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For us, that is perhaps one of the key things from the match.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has very experienced players in the front line, hardened international players. Mirsad Fetić, Baptiste Gafurović and Joey Huss were quite dominant against our scrum. It is very difficult to answer such a challenge, when you have against you players who have played more than 20 matches in a season in strong leagues. They played almost the entire match, Fetić came out in the 74th minute. Huss in the 80th while Gafurović play whole match. A very big effort for the front three, especially since there were more than 20 scrums in the match.
The question is how to respond to such a game of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The solution is to have 6 players ready in the front line who can withstand that kind of pressure. You should use changes and tire the opposing trio. However, it is impossible to expect the players of the first line to last the whole match and play at the same level. Our goal is a clean and fast ball that will allow us to play at a high tempo. If we manage to stabilize the scrum, we will neutralize the opponent’s perhaps strongest weapon.
Players from abroad will definitely bring an advantage to the match
It is no secret that the games of both teams will depend a lot on the players who play abroad. You simply cannot compare players from, say, Federal 1 in France, with players who play in domestic competitions. The formula is clear, if you have a large number of players from better leagues, your result will be better.
At the moment, we do not have final information on which players will come from abroad and play for both teams. We should find out on Friday, when we will publish an article that will analyze the composition of both national teams, so we will be able to deal more with this topic.
A disappointing season in club senior rugby
Towards the beginning of the season, we were quite motivated and even made a series of articles about the clubs participating in the domestic competition, where we focused on their strengths and hoped for good games. Oh, how we bit our tongues after the first round of the competition. Out of a total of six planned matches, only two were played. One match was postponed, while as many as three matches were registered with an official result. It seems that our clubs prefer to settle matches at the green table instead of on the green field.
Let’s look at an example of the teams that traditionally provide the most players for the Serbian national team. Rad played only one match, against Dinamo. Partizan did not play a single match this season. Dinamo played two matches. Torpedo Mlava one. BRK Crvena Zvezda, Vojvodina, Kruševac and Dorćol play in the B League, where two tournaments were held. It is already the end of April and no club has had at least three activities in senior rugby. The players should come to the national team ready with a few games in their legs.
There used to be a rule that the stronger your competition, the stronger your national team will be. But that time has long passed, now the strength of the national team depends on how many players come to you from abroad. This is not only the case with us, but mostly with most national teams in Europe. And the group of the Serbian Championship must be a strong competition in order for the players to progress. If players stagnate in club rugby, then we are not on the right track. We are lucky that Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have a domestic rugby competition on the 15th. Čelik from Zenica took part in the 10-a-side rugby tournament in Montenegro this half-season. As far as we know, this is the only activity they have had this season. And now compare domestic players with players from, say, France who have played almost a dozen games with teams of a similar level this year alone.
Lineout as one of the main weapons of Serbia
Lineout is definitely our biggest weapon where we were quite lethal. We can say that a good lineout is the trademark of coach Mišel Milović, who likes to combine good execution of the out with actions in the line and develops an open game at a fast pace. It is very difficult to read Serbia’s outfield, because when we see that the defense concentrates towards the middle of the field, we can immediately form a pier and win significant space in the field.
We have excellent jumpers, who have good hands and coordination of movements, which makes it easy for us to execute a safe lineout. We also have good tacklers who can put in safe balls. The scrum is extremely mobile and everyone can play very well in the field, so a more complicated game plan can be formed.
It will be especially interesting to see how we will attack the opponent’s out, and how much pressure we can put on Bosnia and Herzegovina. In case you forgot, in the last match we absolutely won the battle in the box, where we made the opponent struggle, even more than we struggled in the scrum.
Discipline must be at the highest possible level
If you want to win the game, to be better than your opponent, you have to be disciplined. The foundation of collective sport is collective discipline, and not only general discipline, but above all we mean the discipline in the game itself. When we say discipline, it usually means arguing and talking to the referee and the opponents. For modern rugby, these are Stone Age situations, around the time humans discovered fire and the wheel.
Players who play for the Serbian national team are absolutely expected to be as disciplined as possible. Let only the captain talk to the referee. That the players focus exclusively on the game, on collective and personal tasks. That the opponent is not allowed to advance in the field due to our bad discipline. To always pay attention to the setting, when the referee calls a penalty for the opponent, so that we know how to set up, that is, how to position ourselves. To be ready for a quick execution of the sentence.
The recipe is simple. We must be ready, concentrated and focused. Every segment is important, every restart, out, scrum, penalty. The game lasts 80 minutes and we have to make the most of each one. If we do our best and manage to maintain discipline at a high level, then we are on a very good path.
Open plays in the field the highest quality of Serbia
Definitely our style of play since Milović took over the helm of the national team. Serbia likes to control the possession of the ball, we are extremely effective, breakthrough and excellent in support. We know how to play matches at a high pace. What adorns this generation of rugby players is excellent technique and control of the ball, as well as control in contact itself. We are able to force the speed with offloads and quick rucks, where we trouble the opposition defense.
What we especially lack is a quality shot from the field and putting pressure on the opponent’s defense. With that, they would put additional pressure on the opponent, who would have to transfer more players to shot defense in the part of the field behind the defensive line, which would open up more space for us. We have tall and fast players, so the shooting game would work in our favor and create another danger for the opponent.
Avoid mismatches against the dominant players of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina has a lot of physically strong players, especially in the scrum. In the last match, we had a situation where Miralem Lekić received the ball five meters from our essay and directly came into contact with the players of the line, where he scored an easy try. This is where communication and positioning failed. Our players in the scrum must not allow such mismatches that the opposing players can take advantage of. Some will say that the players of the line are also obliged to be up to the task on the essay line. And we will say that Lekić plays TOP 10 in Lions, which is the highest level in Italian rugby. So the line players who play in the domestic competition do not have too many chances to express themselves.
The key is communication, the key is positioning. We have to be at the highest level there. We must be disciplined and self-sacrificing. Easier said than done, but someone has to do the work. And who will do it better than the best rugby players that Serbia has?
Strong finishers are main advantage for Serbia
What is our greatest quality is that we have a large number of players who can equally compete for the national team. With that, we are always able to form a respectable lineup with players who can replace the starters without the intensity of the game decreasing. This is the characteristic of great teams and teams. Just remember last year’s match when the finishers from the bench entered the game and completely changed the course of the match, both in the game and in the result.
We especially note that in the younger selections we have a large number of talented players who can play at a high level. Long-term work with young people started to pay off. All these players are knocking on the door of the national team, and are very motivated waiting for their chance. We believe that we will have opportunities to see young players on the big stage. That would be the right thing for the system of junior categories in Serbia. We will wait to see the list of players of coach Milović, so we will be able to write more when we have concrete information.
Granite Defense of Serbia
Our defense has not allowed any tries so far this season. We allowed Turkey to score twice from the penalty spot, and that was it. That’s quite an achievement, because at this level not allowing opponents to score is no small thing. Maybe at the moment Turkey and Montenegro are not at the level of Serbia, but Bosnia and Herzegovina is. And that will be a real challenge for our defence, to see if we really have the material for rugby at a higher level.
A lot of defensive tasks are fulfilled at a high level. Fighting and not giving up is one of the main characteristics of this Serbian team. Every defensive effort means. From just pressing the opponents in the box, to quickly running the defensive line, tackling, supporting the tackler, defending on the breakdown, etc. Rugby gives you so many opportunities to excel and improve in a certain segment, that’s why it’s such an interesting game.
