View source for 2000 European Nations Cup First Division

{{Short description|International rugby union competition}}
{{Infobox Six Nations Championship 2
|name = 2000 European Nations Cup
|image = 
|imagesize = 
|caption = 
|date = 6 February – 2 April 2000
|countries = {{ru|GEO|1990}}<br />{{ru|MAR}}<br />{{ru|NED}} <br />{{ru|POR}} <br /> {{ru|ROU}} <br /> {{ru|ESP}}
|teams = 
|champions = {{ru|ROU}}
|grand slam = 
|matches = 15
|attendance = 
|tries = 
|top point scorer = 
|top try scorer = 
|website = 
|previous year = 1998–99
|previous tournament = 1998–99 FIRA Tournament
|next year = 2000–01
|next tournament = 2001 European Nations Cup First Division
}}
The '''2000 European Nations Cup''' was the first [[Rugby Europe International Championships#European Nations Cup (2000–2016)|European Nations Cup]], an international [[rugby union]] competition for second-tier nations. It replaced the [[FIRA Tournament]] following the emergence of professionalism in rugby union and [[Italy national rugby union team|Italy]] being granted a place in the [[Six Nations Championship|Six Nations]].

The first season had six teams (five from Europe and one from Africa). The teams played each other once, playing roughly to the same weekends as the Six Nations. [[Romania national rugby union team|Romania]] won the first title, with a single loss to [[Morocco national rugby union team|Morocco]] in the opening game. [[Georgia national rugby union team|Georgia]] improved their performance in the context of European rugby, finishing in second place, while [[Morocco national rugby union team|Morocco]] finished in third place, ahead of [[Spain national rugby union team|Spain]] and [[Portugal national rugby union team|Portugal]]. [[Netherlands national rugby union team|Netherlands]] finished last.<ref>[http://stats.espnscrum.com/scrum/rugby/series/103318.html?template=results 2000 European Nations Cup First Division at ESPN]</ref>

==Table==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!rowspan=2 width="8%"| Place
!rowspan=2 width="20%"| Nation
!colspan=4 width="32%"| Games
!colspan=3 width="30%"| Points
!rowspan=2 width="10%"| Table<br />points
|-
!width="8%"| Played
!width="8%"| Won
!width="8%"| Drawn
!width="8%"| Lost
!width="10%"| For
!width="10%"| Against
!width="10%"| Diff
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|1||align=left|{{ru|ROM}}
|5||4||0||1||130||57||+73||'''13'''
|-
|2||align=left|{{ru|GEO|1990}}
|5||3||0||2||145||105||+40||'''11'''
|-
|3||align=left|{{ru|MAR}}
|5||3||0||2||94||69||+25||'''11'''
|-
|4||align=left|{{ru|ESP}}
|5||2||0||3||109||105||+4||'''9'''
|-
|5||align=left|{{ru|POR}}
|5||2||0||3||74||100||−26||'''9'''
|- bgcolor=#ffcccc
|6||align=left|{{ru|NED}}
|5||1||0||4||52||168||−116||'''7'''
|}

==Matches==
===Week 1===
{{rugbybox
|date=6 February 2000
|home={{ru-rt|MAR}}
|score=18–10
|away={{ru|ROU}}
|try1=
|con1=
|pen1=
|drop1=
|try2=
|con2=
|pen2=
|drop2=
|stadium=Stade du COC, [[Casablanca]]
|referee=
|attendance=
}}
----
{{rugbybox
|date=6 February 2000
|home={{ru-rt|POR}}
|score=30–32
|away={{ru|GEO|1990}}
|pen1=[[Thierry Teixeira|Teixeira]] (9)
|drop1=[[Thierry Teixeira|Teixeira]]
|try2=[[Akvsenti Giorgadze|Giorgadze]], [[Badri Khekhelashvili|Khekhelashvili]], [[Levan Tsabadze|Tsabadze]] (2)
|con2=[[Malkhaz Urjukashvili|Urjukashvili]] (3)
|pen2=[[Malkhaz Urjukashvili|Urjukashvili]] (2)
|stadium=[[Lisbon University Stadium]], [[Lisbon]]
|attendance=
|referee=J. P. Pellaprat ([[French Rugby Federation|France]])
}}
----
{{rugbybox
|date=6 February 2000
|home={{ru-rt|ESP}}
|score=33–8
|away={{ru|NED}}
|try1=[[Miguel Ángel Frechilla|Frechilla]], [[Léon Justel|Justel]], [[Javier Salazar Lizarraga|Salazar Lizarraga]], [[José Ignacio Zapatero|Zapatero]]
|con1=[[Andrei Kovalenco|Kovalenco]], [[Alfons Martinéz Torres|Martinéz Torres]]
|pen1=[[Andrei Kovalenco|Kovalenco]] (3)
|try2=[[Peter Philpott (rugby union)|Philpott]]
|pen2=[[Duncan Hannay|Hannay]]
|stadium=[[Majorca]]
|attendance=4,000
|referee=R. Faccioli ([[Italian Rugby Federation|Italy]])
}}

===Week 2===
{{rugbybox
|date=20 February 2000
|home={{ru-rt|GEO|1990}}
|score=20–10
|away={{ru|MAR}}
|try1=[[Akvsenti Giorgadze|Giorgadze]], [[Vasil Katsadze|Katsadze]]
|con1=[[Malkhaz Urjukashvili|Urjukashvili]] (2)
|pen1=[[Malkhaz Urjukashvili|Urjukashvili]] (2)
|try2=[[Mohamed Hamdini|Hamdini]], [[Moktar Oufrich|Oufrich]]
|stadium=[[Saint-Gaudens Bears|St Gaudens]], France
|attendance=500
|referee=Jean-Pierre Matheu ([[French Rugby Federation|France]])
}}
----
{{rugbybox
|date=20 February 2000
|home={{ru-rt|ROU}}
|score=39–10
|away={{ru|NED}}
|try1=[[Florin Corodeanu|Corodeanu]], [[Cătălin Drăguceanu|Drăguceanu]], [[Marian Dumitru (rugby union)|Dumitru]] (2), [[Petre Mitu|Mitu]]
|con1=[[Petre Mitu|Mitu]] (4)
|pen1=[[Petre Mitu|Mitu]] (2)
|try2=[[Obbe Winkels|Winkels]]
|con2=[[Sander van der Loos|Van der Loos]]
|pen2=[[Sander van der Loos|Van der Loos]]
|stadium=[[Amsterdam]]
|attendance=2,000
|referee=
}}
----
{{rugbybox
|date=20 February 2000
|home={{ru-rt|POR}}
|score=21–19
|away={{ru|ESP}}
|stadium=[[Lisbon University Stadium]], [[Lisbon]]
|referee=D. Gillet ([[French Rugby Federation|France]])
|attendance=
|try1=
|try2=[[Alfonso Mata|Mata]]
|con1=
|con2=[[Andrei Kovalenco|Kovalenco]]
|pen1=[[Nuno Mourão|Mourão]] (4), [[Thierry Teixeira|Teixeira]] (3)
|pen2=[[Andrei Kovalenco|Kovalenco]] (4)
}}

===Week 3===
{{rugbybox
|date=4 March 2000
|home={{ru-rt|ESP}}
|score=36–32
|away={{ru|GEO|1990}}
|stadium=Campo Universitário, [[Madrid]]
|referee=C. Giacomel ([[Italian Rugby Federation|Italy]])
|attendance=
|try1=[[Oscar Astarloa Uriarte|Astarloa Uriarte]], [[Benito del Valle|del Valle]], [[Miguel Ángel Frechilla|Frechilla]] (2), [[Sergio Souto|Souto]]|try2=[[Vassil Abashidze|Abashidze]], [[Gia Labadze|Labadze]], [[Zurab Mtchedlishvili|Mtchedlishvili]], [[Levan Tsabadze|Tsabadze]] (2)
|con1=[[Alfons Martinéz Torres|Martinéz Torres]] (4)|con2=[[Niko Iurini|Iurini]], [[Malkhaz Urjukashvili|Urjukashvili]] 
|pen1=[[Alfons Martinéz Torres|Martinéz Torres]]|pen2=[[Malkhaz Urjukashvili|Urjukashvili]]
}}
----
{{rugbybox
|date=4 March 2000
|home={{ru-rt|ROU}}
|score=33–3
|away={{ru|POR}}
|stadium=[[Stadionul Dinamo|Dinamo Stadion]], [[Bucharest]]
|attendance=5,000
|referee=D. Dartigeas ([[French Rugby Federation|France]])
|try1=[[Costica Mersoiu|Mersoiu]], [[Alin Petrache|Petrache]], [[Lucian Sîrbu|Sîrbu]], [[Ovidiu Tonița|Tonița]], [[Mihai Vioreanu|Vioreanu]]|try2=
|con1=[[Petre Mitu|Mitu]] 
|pen1=[[Petre Mitu|Mitu]] (2)|pen2=[[Thierry Teixeira|Teixeira]]
}}
----
{{rugbybox
|date=4 March 2000
|home={{ru-rt|NED}}
|score=15–44
|away={{ru|MAR}}
|try1=
|con1=
|pen1=
|drop1=
|try2=
|con2=
|pen2=
|drop2=
|stadium=[[Amsterdam]]
|attendance=
|referee=
}}

===Week 4===
{{rugbybox
|date=19 March 2000
|home={{ru-rt|GEO|1990}}
|score=41–6
|away={{ru|NED}}
|stadium=National Stadium, [[Tbilisi]]
|attendance=20,000
|referee=S. de Falco ([[Italian Rugby Federation|Italy]])
|try1=[[Irakli Abuseridze|Abuseridze]], [[Akvsenti Giorgadze|Giorgadze]], [[Paliko Jimsheladze|Jimsheladze]], [[Archil Kavtarahvili|Kavtaravhili]] (2), [[Gia Labadze|Labadze]], [[Ilia Zedginidze|Zedgnidize]]
|con1=[[Niko Iurini|Iurini]], [[Paliko Jimsheladze|Jimsheladze]] (2)
|pen2=[[Duncan Hannay|Hannay]] (2) 
}}
----
{{rugbybox
|date=19 March 2000
|home={{ru-rt|ROU}}
|score=25–6
|away={{ru|ESP}}
|try1=[[Marian Dumitru (rugby union)|Dumitru]], [[Romeo Gontineac|Gontineac]], [[Mihai Vioreanu|Vioreanu]]
|con1=[[Petre Mitu|Mitu]] (2)
|pen1=[[Petre Mitu|Mitu]] (2)
|pen2=[[Alfons Martinéz Torres|Martinéz Torres]] (2)
|stadium=Stadionul Ghencea II, [[Bucharest]]
|attendance=500
|referee=G. Morandin ([[Italian Rugby Federation|Italy]])
}}
----
{{rugbybox
|date=19 March 2000
|home={{ru-rt|POR}}
|score=9–3
|away={{ru|MAR}}
|try1=
|con1=
|pen1=
|drop1=
|try2=
|con2=
|pen2=
|drop2=
|stadium=[[Lisbon University Stadium]], [[Lisbon]]
|attendance=
|referee=Johan Meersman ([[Belgian Rugby Federation|Belgium]])
}}

===Week 5===
{{rugbybox
|date=2 April 2000
|home={{ru-rt|GEO|1990}}
|score=20–23
|away={{ru|ROU}}
|stadium=National Stadium, [[Tbilisi]]
|attendance=35,000
|referee=D. Pruvot ([[French Rugby Federation|France]])
|try1=[[Archil Kavtarahvili|Kavtarahvili]], [[Vano Nadiradze|Nadiradze]]
|con1=[[Paliko Jimsheladze|Jimsheladze]] (2)
|pen1=[[Paliko Jimsheladze|Jimsheladze]] (2)
|try2=[[Gabriel Brezoianu|Brezoianu]], [[Lucian Sîrbu|Sîrbu]]
|con2=[[Petre Mitu|Mitu]] (2)
|pen2=[[Petre Mitu|Mitu]] (2)
}}
----
{{rugbybox
|date=2 April 2000
|home={{ru-rt|ESP}}
|score=15–19
|away={{ru|MAR}}
|try1=
|con1=
|pen1=
|drop1=
|try2=
|con2=
|pen2=
|drop2=
|stadium=[[Albacete]]
|attendance=
|referee=
}}
----
{{rugbybox
|date=2 April 2000
|home={{ru-rt|NED}}
|score=13–11
|away={{ru|POR}}
|try1=[[Gijs van der Pol|Van der Pol]]
|con1=[[Duncan Hannay|Hannay]]
|pen1=[[Duncan Hannay|Hannay]] (2)
|try2=[[Pedro Murinello|Murinello]]
|pen2=[[Thierry Teixeira|Teixeira]] (2)
|stadium=[[Amsterdam]]
|attendance=
|referee=Jeremy Schauder ([[Rugby Israel|Israel]])
}}

==See also==
* [[European Nations Cup Second Division 2000]]
* [[European Nations Cup Third Division 2000]]
* [[European Nations Cup Fourth Division 2000]]
* [[FIRA – Association of European Rugby]]
* [[Six Nations Championship]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://stats.espnscrum.com/scrum/rugby/series/103318.html?template=results 2000 European Nations Cup First Division at ESPN]

{{European Nations Cup (rugby union) seasons}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nations Cup}}
[[Category:European Nations Cup First Division|1999–2000]]
[[Category:1999–2000 in European rugby union]]
[[Category:1999–2000 in Spanish rugby union]]
[[Category:2000 in Moroccan sport]]
[[Category:2000 in Georgian sport]]
[[Category:2000 in Dutch sport]]
[[Category:1999–2000 in Romanian rugby union]]
[[Category:2000 in Portuguese sport]]