1977–78 FIRA Trophy

1977-78 FIRA Trophy
Date	2 October 1977 – 28 May 1978
Countries	Czechoslovakia France Italy Romania Poland Spain
Tournament statistics
Champions	France
Matches played	15
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The 1977-1978 FIRA Trophy was the 18th edition of a European rugby union championship for national teams.

The tournament was won by France, with a Grand Slam. Romania finished in 2nd place, while Spain had a surprising 3rd place, defeating Italy (10-3), in Madrid, to repeat the same place of the previous tournament. Italy had a very disappointing performance, finishing in 5th place, below Poland, who also beat them (12-6).

First Division

• Table

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
1	France	5	5	0	0	158	77	+81	15
2	Romania	5	3	1	1	190	49	+141	12
3	Spain	5	3	0	2	64	134	-70	11
4	Poland	5	2	0	3	93	110	-17	9
5	Italy	5	1	1	3	38	67	-29	8
6	Czechoslovakia	5	0	0	5	61	167	-106	5

Czechoslovakia relegated to division 2

• Results

Point system: try 4 pt, conversion: 2 pt., penalty kick 3 pt. drop 3 pt Click "show" for more info about match (scorers, line-up etc)

2 October 1977

France XV	63 - 35	Czechoslovakia

Stade Municipal, Hagondange

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23 October 1977

Poland	12 - 6	Italy

Warsaw

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29 October 1977

Czechoslovakia	4 - 10	Italy

Prague

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5 November 1977

Romania	38 - 21	Poland

Bucharest

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26 November 1977	Italy	10 - 10	Romania	Stadio Comunale, Reggio Calabria
	Try: Ghizzoni Pen: Collodo, Gaetaniello		Try: Motrescu Drop: Bucos 2	Referee: David Burnett (Ireland)
Italy: 15.Fabrizio Gaetaniello, 14.Manrico Marchetto, 13.Nello Francescato, 12.Bruno Francescato, 11.Serafino Ghizzoni, 10.Oscar Collodo, 9.Gianni Franceschini, 8.Salvatore Bonetti (cap.), 7.Fiorenzo Blessano, 6.Loris Salsi, 5.Giuseppe Artuso, 4.Adriano Fedrigo, 3.Pasquale Presutti, 2.Pietro Monfeli, 1.Nick Screnci - replacements: 16.Andrea Lijoi
Romania: 15.Teodorin Tudose, 14.Petre Ianusevici, 13.Gheorghe Nica, 12.Ion Enache, 11.Petre Motrescu, 10.Mihai Bucos, 9.Eduard Suciu, 8.Florică Murariu, 7.Pompiliu Borș, 6.Enciu Stoica, 5.I. Pintea, 4.Marin Ionescu, 3.Iancu Băcioiu, 2.Mircea Ortelecan, 1.Constantin Dinu

10 December 1977	France	9 - 6	Romania	Stade Marcel-Michelin, Clermont Ferrand
	Pen: Romeu 3		Pen: Bucos Drop: Alexandru	Referee: Hughes (England)
Italy: 15.Jean-Michel Aguirre, 14.Jean-Luc Averous, 13.Roland Bertranne, 12.Christian Bélascain, 11.Guy Noves, 10.Jean-Pierre Romeu, 9.Jacques Fouroux (cap.), 8.Alain Guilbert, 7.Jean-Claude Skrela, 6.Jean-Pierre Rives, 5.Michel Palmie, 4.Michel Sappa, 3.Pierre Dospital, 2.Alain Paco, 1.Gerard Cholley
Romania: 15.Mihai Bucos, 14.Petre Ianusevici, 13.Gheorghe Nica (cap.), 12.Vladimir Vasile, 11.Petre Motrescu, 10.Dumitru Alexandru, 9.Mircea Paraschiv, 8.Gheorghe Dumitru, 7.Enciu Stoica, 6.Florică Murariu, 5.Marin Ionescu, 4.I. Pintea, 3.Corneliu Scarlat, 2.Mircea Ortelecan, 1.Constantin Dinu

17 December 1977

Spain	10 - 3	Italy

Estadio de Vallehermoso, Madrid

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1978

France XV	35 - 24	Poland

Stadium Municipal, Albi

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29 January 1978

Spain	3 - 20	France XV

Estadio de Vallehermoso, Madrid

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4 February 1978

Italy	9 - 31	France XV

Stadio Tommaso Fattori, L'Aquila

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9 April 1978

Romania	60 - 6	Czechoslovakia

Bucharest

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16 April 1978

Romania	76 - 3	Spain

Stadionul Dinamo, Bucharest

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7 May 1978

Spain	20 - 13	Czechoslovakia

CN Montjuïc, Barcelona

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21 May 1978

Poland	22 - 28	Spain

Warsaw

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28 May 1978

Czechoslovakia	3 - 14	Poland

Vyškov

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Second Division

Pool 1

• Table

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
1	Yugoslavia	2	2	0	0	26	0	+26	6
2	Morocco	2	1	0	1	25	20	+5	4
3	Belgium	2	0	0	2	0	31	-31	2

• Results

1 July 1977

Morocco	0 - 20	Yugoslavia

Casablanca

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29 October 1977

Belgium	0 - 25	Morocco

Brussels

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Yugoslavia	6-0 forfait	Belgium

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Pool 2

• Table

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
1	Soviet Union	2	2	0	0	102	15	+87	6
2	Sweden	2	1	0	1	22	49	-27	4
3	West Germany	2	0	0	2	20	80	-60	2

• Results

9 October 1977

Sweden	6 - 38	Soviet Union

Vanersborg

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30 October 1977

West Germany	11 - 16	Sweden

Berlin

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9 May 1978

Soviet Union	64 - 9	West Germany

Kharkov

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Finals

14 May 1978

Yugoslavia	3 - 18	Soviet Union

Sarajevo

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18 May 1978

Yugoslavia	6 - 16	Soviet Union

Travnik

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Soviet Union promoted to division 1

Bibliography

• (in Italian) Francesco Volpe, Valerio Vecchiarelli (2000), 2000 Italia in Meta, Storia della nazionale italiana di rugby dagli albori al Sei Nazioni, GS Editore (2000) ISBN 88-87374-40-6.
• (in Italian) Francesco Volpe, Paolo Pacitti (Author), Rugby 2000, GTE Gruppo Editorale (1999).

External links

• FIRA-AER official website