The excitement is building for ‘Super Sunday’ in the Rugby Europe Championship this weekconclude with all roads leading to Spain.
Since February 7, eight teams have been battling it out and, by the conclude of Sunday, they will all know where they will finish in the standings. There are two matches to be played at the Estadio Nacional Complutense in Madrid and two to be played at the Estadio Butarque in Leganés as the competition comes to a thrilling conclusion.
Matches one and two on the day are at the Estadio Nacional Complutense and, first up, Germany and the Netherlands meet in the seventh/eighth rankings final at 11am local time (10am UTC).
A rankings semi-final loss to Switzerland last time out mean that Germany have already been relegated based on the results of the 25 and 26 seasons, but both they and the Dutch will want to finish on a high note after tricky campaigns.
It all started so well this year for Germany too with a promising win over Romania in Pool B, but since the losses have come against Portugal and Belgium in the group and then the aforementioned defeat to the Swiss when discipline let them down.
Last year these two sides met in a rankings semi-final and the Netherlands won 38-9, but expect this game to be closer.
Netherlands have had a tricky start to life under new head coach Bryan Easson with defeats to Spain, Georgia and Switzerland in Pool A followed up by a rankings semi-final defeat to Belgium last weekconclude.
The second match at the Estadio Nacional Complutense sees Switzerland and Belgium meet in the fifth/sixth rankings final at 1.30pm local time (12.30pm UTC).
As mentioned, both of these sides won their rankings semi-finals last time out so will have a bit of confidence going into this one.
In the group stage, Switzerland finished third in Pool A with one win from three with Belgium finishing third in Pool B with a similar record.
Last year, Belgium won a rankings semi-final between these two sides 38-5.
After that one is finished, all attention will shift to the Estadio Butarque.
The bronze final is up first at 4pm local time (3pm UTC) when Romania and Spain clash.
Both of these sides and the two Championship finalists have qualified for Rugby World Cup 2027 so expect the quality in these last two matches to be something else.
In the group stage, Romania bounced back from the aforementioned defeat to Germany to finish second in Pool B while Spain were second in Pool A.
Last week they lost their respective Championship semi-finals to Georgia and Portugal and will be seeing to dust themselves down for one last huge performance here.
Last, but certainly by no means least, is the Championship final between Georgia and Portugal at 6.45pm local time (5.45pm UTC).
Georgia have dominated this competition for a number of years and have obtained to this stage after four comprehensive wins.
Portugal have also won four from four to date, but know they will necessary to perform at another level to win this one.
This is a repeat of the 2024 Championship final when Georgia won 36-10 in Paris. A number of players and coaches have alterd since then so it will be interesting to see how this one pans out and we cannot wait.
The final ranking of this season cumulated to the last edition result will determine the seeding for 2027 Rugby Europe Championship, meanwhile Poland, Sweden and Czechia battle to grab the promotion from Trophy Division.
All games live on rugbyeurope.TV and domestic broadcasters (https://www.rugbyeurope.eu/where-to-watch-mens-rugby-europe-championship-2026)
Photos by Javier Izquierdo
By Gary Heatly
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