Balkans 9's : 2018

In 2014 and 2017, there was the Balkans Championship, a brief overview of the competition can be seen by clicking here. In 2018, a 9's version was held in Belgrade, Serbia. If you are unfamiliar with what 9's RL is simply click here. Five nations took part and I have what transpired outlined below.

There seems to have been two groups, Turkey, Albania and Bosnia & Herzegovina in one and Serbia and Bulgaria in the other. The results were:

Group One:

Turkey 16-0 Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Turkey 28-4 Albania.
Albania 22-10 Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Group Two:

Serbia 24-6 Bulgaria

3rd-4th Place:

Bulgaria 8-4 Albania

Final:

Turkey 14-10 Serbia

Unofficial Games:

An invitation team made up of players from several European nations played Bulgaria and Bosnia to give them more exposure to the game. Both of these were won by the invitation side, but more to the point was an excellent initiative to give those two nations greater experience.

Summary:

Serbia as host and most experienced of the nations would have been expected to take it out but that was not to be. Of course, this format creates upsets due to the reduced time as happens in Cricket's Twenty/20. The hope is Greece and Montenegro will be involved next year.

The final can be seen below: