1997–98 FIRA Tournament

The 1997–98 FIRA Tournament was a rugby union tournament organized by the Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur (FIRA). Only minnow teams participated because the strongest 15 teams were playing the qualification for the Rugby World Cup.

1997–98 FIRA Tournament
Date18 October 1997 – 2 June 1998
Tournament statistics
ChampionsNot awarded
1996–1997 (Previous) (Next) 1998–1999

The teams were divided into three pools, with the winners being Latvia, Luxembourg and Austria. No championship title was awarded.

Pool "Silver" (Division 2)

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Place Nation Games Points Table
points
played won drawn lost for against diff.
1   Latvia 4 3 0 1 54 43 +11 10
2   Lithuania 4 3 0 1 51 88 −37 10
3    Switzerland 4 2 0 2 102 64 +38 8
4   Yugoslavia 4 2 0 2 87 38 +49 7
5   Israel 4 0 0 4 9 70 −61 2
25 October 1997
Lithuania  25–23  Latvia
Vilnius

8 November 1997
Switzerland  29–13  Yugoslavia
Nyon

28 March 1998
Israel  3–34   Switzerland
Netanya

25 April 1998
Yugoslavia  30–6  Israel
Beograd

9 May 1998
Latvia  25–18   Switzerland
Riga

10 May 1998
Switzerland  21–23  Lithuania
Basel

20 May 1998
Yugoslavia  44–0  Lithuania
Beograd

30 May 1998
Latvia  3 – 0
withdraw
  Israel

2 June 1998
Latvia  3 – 0
withdraw
  Yugoslavia

Lithuania  3 – 0
withdraw
  Israel

Pool "Bronze" (Division 3)

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Place Nation Games Points Table
points
played won drawn lost for against diff.
1   Luxembourg 3 3 0 0 79 23 +56 9
2   Bosnia and Herzegovina 3 2 0 1 49 43 +6 7
3   Monaco 3 1 0 2 49 56 −7 5
4   Bulgaria 3 0 0 3 27 82 −55 3
18 October 1997
Bulgaria  6–39  Luxembourg
Sofia

15 November 1997
Monaco  16–22  Bosnia and Herzegovina
Montecarlo

28 March 1998
Luxembourg  22–5  Bosnia and Herzegovina

18 April 1998
Luxembourg  18–12  Monaco

9 May 1998
Monaco  21–16  Bulgaria

13 May 1998
Bosnia and Herzegovina  22–5  Bulgaria
Zenica

Pool "Bowl" (Division 4)

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Place Nation Games Points Table
points
played won drawn lost for against diff.
1   Austria 2 2 0 0 74 15 +59 6
2   Slovenia 2 1 0 1 41 50 −9 4
3   Hungary 2 0 0 2 12 62 −50 2
18 April 1998
Slovenia  38–0  Hungary
Sofia

23 May 1998
Hungary  12–24  Austria
Montecarlo

6 June 1998
Austria  50–3  Slovenia

Bibliography

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  • (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).
  • "Minor Tournaments FIRA Tournament 1997/98". The Rugby Archive. 19 December 2014. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.