France win Euro 7s title
France retained their European 7s Championship title after winning the second leg of the series in Hamburg
Published by John Birch, June 30th, 2024
3 minute read
The leading World Series nations often rest players for European Championships, but with the Olympics only weeks away Great Britain, France and Ireland fielded far stronger teams for the second leg of the series.
Great Britain had only finished seventh in the first leg in Makarska but with their leading players available they blew through Pool A winning every game without conceding a point, and dismissing first leg winners Poland 45-0 – by far the largest defeat suffered by a first leg winner in the second leg of a Championship.
France also won Pool B comfortably, including a 26-14 win against Ireland.
As a result Ireland found themselves up against Great Britain in the quarter-finals, and gave the British a far more challenging game than the had had in the pools, but Britain still came out on top 21-14. France, meanwhile, breezed past Poland 38-5.
The semi-finals were rather more straight-forward, but France’s 33-0 win against Spain confirmed them as overall champions regardless of the result in the final.
Nonetheless France controlled much of the final beating Great Britain 19-5.
Results
Pool A: Poland 48-0 Ukraine; Germany 0-29 Great Britain; Poland 0-45 Great Britain; Germany 40-7 Ukraine; Great Britain 59-5 Ukraine; Poland 17-19 Germany
Pool B: France 38-5 Portugal; Czechia 28-17 Ireland; France 26-14 Ireland; Czechia 31-10 Portugal; France 60-7 Czechia; Ireland 17-7 Portugal
Pool C: Belgium 29-0 Turkey; Spain 26-0 Italy; Belgium 26-0 Italy; Spain 46-0 Turkey; Belgium 5-27 Spain; Italy 17-12 Turkey
Quarter-Finals: Great Britain 21-14 Ireland; France 38-5 Poland; Spain 33-7 Czechia; Belgium 17-7 Germany
9th-12th Place Semi-Finals: Italy 43-0 Ukraine; Portugal 27-0 Turkey
5th-8th Place Semi Finals Ireland 12-0 Germany; Poland 7-19 Czechia
Semi-Finals: Great Britain 29-0 Belgium; France 33-0 Spain
11th Place: Ukraine 12-17 Turkey
9th Place: Italy 7-17 Portugal
7th Place: Germany 7-15 Poland
5th Place: Ireland 26-12 Czechia
3rd Place: Belgium 10-7 Spain
Final: Great Britain 5-19 France