Turkey positively surprised with the game
The Turks are no longer the old team that plays rugby 15 like rugby 7. In this match, they had a very good structure and game plan. They were excellent in statics, they forced us to make mistakes in the outfield, they took away our security in the scrum, that is, we didn’t have the ball in our hands to play. They were very combative, not so disciplined. But still we failed to materialize it. New coach Loren Boule managed to revive the team and raise the standard of the game. They seemed incomparably more organized and dangerous than before.
Fantastic support in Starčevo
The audience response was fantastic. We haven’t seen a large number of viewers in a long time. Almost the entire stand was filled. People wanted rugby, because we didn’t play at home for almost a year and a half. The Eagles had excellent support from the crowd, which gave them the wind at their backs. Unfortunately, this time it was not enough to achieve victory, but the Eagles received a lot of support even in defeat. It’s a sport after all, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but you always support and love your team.
Rugby Serbia National Team:
Vladimir Đukić, Igor Marinković, Predrag Vraneš, Uros jevđenijević, Relja Pećanac, Uros Pucar, Aleksandar Madjanović 5, Danijel Stojanović, Žulijen Todorović, Marko Gvozdenović 7, Bojan Čečarić, Vlado Kušić, Janko Zemun Milinković, Kaspar Strugar 5, Igor Dejanović 5, Miljan Nikolić, Petar Pavlović, Kiprijan Đorić, Dragan Kokanović, Stanislav Ljubičić, Uroš Jončić, Stefan Simović, Dragan Matijević.
Headcoach: Michel Milović
Coaches: Marko Žeravica, Marko Janković and Jonotan Ragno.
Doctors: Srđan Nikolić and Enes Isaki.
Team manager: Goran Vuković
7 impressions from the match
In the first part of the match, Serbia was aggressive and played at a good pace.
We opened the match well. We had most of the possession. We were a better rival. Here, we are particularly referring to aggressive defense and fast running out. At 8th minute of the match, we had a throw-in just outside the 22 meters of Turkey. The ball flew over our second jumper and came into the possession of the Turks, who started a counter attack. Our centers and wings were quick to run at the opponents, which caused one Turkish player to be caught and instead of falling with the ball to the ground and forming a ruck, he threw the so-called “Biedermeier pass” where the ball flew uncontrollably into the air. Janko Zemun Milinković first ran at it, and the ball was knocked back by a Turkish player, then Aleksandar Madjanović ran at the scrap, who gave himself a free kick, the ball bounced strangely and entered the hands of Kaspar Strugar, who scored a try for Serbia. Marko Gvozdenović is confident in the shot for 7-0.
It was quite interesting in the first part of the match, where Turkey had opportunities to score, but our defense was up to the task. And then at 22th minute, our best attack of the match started. A little outside our 22 meters, Gvozdenović played the ball to Danijel Stojanović, who won ten meters, then the game developed towards the middle of the field. Then the demi Julien Todorović returns to the closed side again, where the ball comes again to Stojanović, who wins 20-25 meters and passes the offload to Relja Pećanac. Todorović then passes to Uroš Pucar, who breaks through and throws an offload to Gvozdenović, who throws another offload from behind to Igor Dejanović, who is somehow stopped two meters in front of the goal. That’s where Turkey makes a penalty, where we had the advantage, because the game continued towards the middle of the field. After several phases, the judge returns the penalty to that place. Dejanović takes the ball, executes a penalty and scores an try. At first it seemed that he did not manage to pass the ball over the essay line, but the assistant referee saw better and signaled to the main referee who awarded the try. The result is 12-0 for Serbia.
Bad positioning and indiscipline in the defense of Serbia
After receiving the try, Turkey began to attack in a more organized manner. In one such attack in the 30th minute, they managed to make several phases, from one wing to the other. Then we got a penalty to the left car at about lane 22. Our scrum was quite anemic, nobody was retreating to 10 metres. The Turks took advantage of that and carried out a quick punishment. The ball came to the scrum player Mehmet Dumrul, who just before contact returns to the post of Mehmet Kiličkaja, who, like a demi or opener, uses a quick pass to Etem Sejdioglu, who quickly passes the ball to Mustafa Kaplan, who had a 3 on 0 situation and scored an essay without too many problems. Eyup Das was safe in the shot for 14-7. We were very slow and positioned ourselves badly and as punishment we were given an try. There it was seen that Turkey has become a team that knows how to punish the bad positioning of the opponent.
Serbia at a high pace
The received try did not disturb Serbia’s game too much. We tried to be aggressive and very dangerous for the opponent. When we are focused and accurate, the opponents don’t have much of a chance. That’s what the attack looked like in the 35th minute , when the try was hanging in the air. Everyone in Starčevo had the feeling that we would manage to score, when it was just a question of who would do it. After we are stopped at the try line itself. After one phase, the ball reaches Madjanović, who expertly taps in and scores the third try for Serbia. Gvozdenović was confident in the shot for 19-7. Then it seemed that we were on a good track and that we would be even more efficient in the rest of the match.
We have paid dearly for mistakes
Towards the end of the half we had momentum on our side. We won the lineout and formed a maul 5 meters from the Turkish tryline. Then Todorović took the ball out of the pier towards the blind side where he tried to pass the ball towards Gvozdenović and Madjanović. The ball hit the referee who was jumping on that side in a disastrous position, where he literally stopped our attack. Every time the ball hits the referee, it is a scrum for the team in possession. We won the ball in the scrum, Gvozdenović dunked hard, Todorović passed a sharp ball that our team did not catch, but the Turks caught the live ball on their own line. Then they go on the counter, and with one offload and one phase they manage to run the whole field and score an try. Scrumhalf Das was the executor of both the essay and the transformation. We went into halftime with a 19-14 lead. What a shock in the stands in Starčevo.
In the 45th minute, Turkey misses a penalty from a very good situation. We shot the ball from our 22 meters, and then a total shock. The ball is caught by a player from Turkey, who first falls backwards, but manages to control it and pass it to Eyup Das, who makes a gift to our defense line, manages to outwit several Serbian players and score an essay like in the U12 cockerel tournaments when one fast kid outruns the others. Silence in the stands. Turkey then equalizes at 19-19. A little later we managed to score a penalty through Gvozdenović and lead 22-19.
Excellent Turkish out, Serbia no factor in the defensive out
We hoped that the situation would be reversed. But unfortunately, our out didn’t work at all, especially in the second part of the match. Without too much pressure, Turkey had a smooth flow of the ball. 63th minute is played we were still leading. Turkey made a great out and opened the ball towards the middle of the field where two scrambling players got the ball and tied up several Serbian players in a crunch ball action.. Demi Turkey sent a quick ball to the wing where the ball again came to Dumrul who again had a 3 on 0 situation and scored an easy try. Turkey turned it around to make it 24-22.
The capitulation of scrum
In those moments, the crowd cheered the Eagles, who fought with all their strength. However, the pace of the game was too high for our current capabilities. And just when we thought that we would manage to stabilize the scrum and finally launch an attack towards the tryline of Turkey, we experienced another shock. We had the ball in the scrum in our half of the field, our line was preparing to attack from the scrum. And then the Turks blew us away as soon as the demi threw the ball in, the ball went uncontrollably out of the scrum towards the out line, which was picked up by the Turkish demi Yusuf Sarican in a run and buried our hopes of winning the match. Das was confident in the shot for 31-22, which ended up being the final score of the match.
Final impression
If it’s not good, it’s not. But we have to be optimistic and learn from this game. We need to locate the problems and go towards solving them. The outcome of the match should not have an impact there, and when we win and when we lose, there are always positive and negative things. For us, the biggest positive thing about this match is that the young players had a lot of influence on the game in our team. Here we mean Uroš Pucar and Danijelo Stojanović. Along with Dragan Kokanović and Uroš Jevđenijević, who also played a lot of minutes, it is definitely a pledge for the future. Next weekend we have a tough match against Bulgaria. Let’s move on and head up!
