The 2009 FIRA tournament acted as Europe's 2010 World Cup qualifying tournament. The top four nations from the 2009 Six Nations had automatically qualified, but nations finishing fifth and sixth (Scotland and Italy) joined Spain, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Germany, and Belgium to decide the final two places.
Format The teams were divided into two pools, the "seeding" broadly based on FIRA rankings, with the pool winners qualifying:
Seed 1: Scotland (Pool A) Seed 2: Italy (Pool B) Seed 3: Spain (Pool B) Seed 4: Netherlands (Pool A) Seed 5: Russia (Pool A) Seed 6: Sweden (Pool B) Seed 7: Germany (Pool B) Seed 8: Belgium (Pool A)
After the completion of the pool phase, the tournament itself did not have a "final", nor any other classification games.
As expected, Scotland qualified from Pool A with no problems - but it always looked a tougher prospect for fellow Six Nations team Italy, in Pool B, as they would have to beat Spain - something they had never managed before. But when it came to the event neither Italy nor Spain were to qualify, but rather hosts and sixth seeds Sweden, who shocked everyone by first beating Italy and then Spain - in both cases coming from behind in the dying minutes of the game.
Other games in the tournament followed the seedings - and were embarrassingly one-sided in many cases - demonstrating the gulf that continues to exist between the leading eight or nine nations in Europe and the rest.
Pool A Position Nation Games Points Tablepoints Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Difference Tries 1 3 3 0 0 193 18 +175 30 9 2 3 2 0 1 152 38 +114 24 7 3 3 1 0 2 29 129 -100 5 5 4 3 0 0 3 11 200 -189 1 3
Pool B Position Nation Games Points Tablepoints Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Difference Tries 1 3 3 0 0 65 26 +39 9 9 2 3 2 0 1 92 18 +74 13 7 3 3 1 0 2 68 28 +40 9 5 4 3 0 0 3 6 159 -153 0 3
Point Scorers
Leading point scorers Points Name Played Team Notes 55 Kelly van Harskamp3 11 tries 45 Lucy Millard3 9 tries 37 Sarah Gill3 17 cons, 1 pen 32 Lorraine Laros3 13 cons, 2 pens 26 Laura Lladó3 1 try, 9 cons, 1 pen 25 Charlotta Westin Vines3 5 tries 24 Donna Kennedy3 4 tries, 2 cons 23 Veronica Schiavon3 4 cons, 5 pens 20 Cara D’Silva3 4 tries15 Ana Vanesa Rial2 3 tries Susie Brown3 3 tries Linda Franssen3 3 tries Bárbara Pla3 3 tries
Other point scorers 14 points: Ulrika Andersson Hall (Sweden) 10 points: Natalia Alexeeva (Russia), Dorien Eppink (Netherlands), Veronica Fitzpatrick (Scotland), Silvia Peron (Italy), Isabel Rodríguez (Spain), Wikke Tuinhout (Netherlands), Paola Zangirolami(Italy) 8 points: Marina Apfel (Germany) 6 points: Marina Bravo (Spain), Claire Paris (Belgium) 5 points: Sara Barattin (Italy), Martina Barbini (Italy), Jessica Berntsson (Sweden), Marlieke Broer (Netherlands), Lana Blyth (Scotland), Emma Evans (Scotland), Lucia Gai (Italy), Elena Gamova (Russia), Tanya Griffith (Scotland), Sylke Haverkorn (Netherlands), Erin Kerr (Scotland), Madeleine Lahti (Sweden), Rebecka Lind (Sweden), Jennifer Lindholm (Sweden), Alexia Mavroudis (Netherlands), Paula Medín(Spain), Elke van Meer (Netherlands), Louise Moffat (Scotland), Suzi Newton (Scotland), Agurtzane Obregozo (Spain), Silvia Pizzati (Italy), Marta Pocurull (Spain), Aitziber Porras (Spain), Johanna van Rossum (Netherlands), Corinne Sailliez (Belgium), Maria Sanfilippo (Italy), Pien Selbeck (Netherlands), Elena Smirnova (Russia), Laura Steven (Scotland), Olga Sychugova (Russia) 4 points: Erika Andersson (Sweden), Anastasiya Mukharyamova (Russia) 2 points: Louise Dalgliesh (Scotland)
External links FIRA website
See also Women's international rugby union