On this big weekend of men’s Rugby Europe Championship action Netherlands and Portugal have become the first teams to record bonus point wins and they will finish third and first in their respective pools.
First up, Netherlands made sure of third place in Pool A with a 73-0 point victory over Switzerland at the National Rugby Center in Amsterdam.
Thirteen is unlucky for some, but not them as they ran in 13 unanswered tries to overwhelm their visitors.
A converted try by centre Oliva Sialau gave Netherlands an early lead and that set the tone for the rest of the day. The conversion was by stand-off Vikas Meijer.
Try number two came from No.8 Christopher Raymond and things got worse for the Swiss visitors when they conceded a seven-point penalty try in the 13th minute and back-row Thomas McCarthy was yellow carded.
When he was off the pitch, Netherlands scored further tries through back-row Spike Salman and Raymond.
Meijer was next to go over for try number six when the Swiss were back to 15 and then a great looping pass from full-back Mees Van Oord put winger Te Campbell in at the corner.
With centre David Weersma slotting the conversion it was 41-0 and they made that 46-0 at half-time when scrum-half Boris Hadinegoro bagged try number eight on his debut.
Things got even better for the livewire number nine right at the start of the second period when he went over for his second try.
The Netherland scrum was, unsurprising dominating here, and Campbell took advantage of good ball won by his forwards for his second and the Netherlands 10th try.
Van Oord scored try 11, sub Bjorn Dolman try 12 and, to put the icing on the cake, Weersma try number 13. Dolman converted and it finished at 73-0. Hadinegoro was named player of the match.
Netherlands will now be at home to Belgium or Germany in the rankings semi-finals early in March.
Switzerland will finish in fourth spot in the pool as a result of this loss and will be up against Belgium or Germany away in their semi-final.
The second match on Saturday was in Pool B when Rugby World Cup 2027 qualifiers Romania and Portugal met at the Stadionul Municipal, the visitors prevailing 34-6.
Portugal took the lead in the 15th minute when a quick attack saw full-back Simao Bento put winger Rafaele Storti in for his 19th try in 30 caps. Scrum-half Samuel Marques could not convert and it was 5-0.
Centre Alin Conache then got Romania on the board with a penalty before they had loosehead prop Alexandru Savin yellow carded.
When he was off, Portugal took advantage and they score their second try via hooker Luka Begic after a lineout. Marques’ conversion made it 12-3.
A penalty was missed by Conache just on the stroke of half-time and Portugal had a nine-point lead going into the second period.
Portugal got a perfect start to the second half when in-form back-row Nicolas Martins went over for their third try. Marques knocked over the conversion and it was 19-3.
Romania needed to get the next points on the board to keep in this game and they did in the 53rd minute when Conache kicked a conversion.
On the hour mark Marques kicked a penalty to make it 22-6 and Romania had a mountain to climb in the last quarte which became even tougher when they lost a second player of the day to the sin bin.
While the home side were down to 14 men, Portugal scored their fourth try.
It came from sub Manuel Vareiro and, at 27-6 up, they were just about across the line.
Romania’s frustrating day score and discipline-wise was summed up when skipper Marius Simionescu was yellow carded.
And Portugal finished things off when No.8 Vasco Baptista surged over for a converted try.
Martins of Portugal was named player of the match.
Portugal’s triumph on the road means that in early March they will be at home to Georgia or Spain in the Grand Finals semi-finals while, having finished second in the pool, Romania will be away to one of those sides.
There are two more games to come on Sunday to finish off the pool stage action in the eight-team event.
The first game on Sunday is the Pool A decider between Spain and Georgia and the Estadio Central UCM in Madrid at 12.45pm local time (11.45am UTC).
Then the Pool B match between Germany and Belgium takes place at the Auestadion in Kassel at 3.30pm (2.30pm UTC) to decide who will finish in third spot.
By Gary Heatly
