Today, on May 6, in Budapest, Hungary, the Latvian national team won a victory over the home team, the Hungarian rugby team, with a score of 21:22.
The teams met in the last game of the European Championship Conference 1 North Division 2022/2023 season.
One of the judges of the game was the representative of Latvia – Vadims Galajevs. He was also one of the three judges of the Latvia – Czech Republic match.
The teams started the game similarly, but luck smiled first on the home team. In the 8th minute, as Latvia defended unsuccessfully, the Hungarian players had the opportunity to open the score – 7:0.
In the following minutes, both teams exchanged dangerous attacks. Latvian rugby players visited the home team’s 22-meter zone, but were able to score only in the 20th minute of the game. A great multi-phase attack was capped off by Tom Aseyev with a touchdown. Robert Davidson accurately executed the conversion shot and 7:7.
It is interesting that three Davidson brothers played in the main team of the Latvian national team in this game – John Davidson (number 9), Tomas Dāvidson (number 10) and Robert Dāvirdson (number 15).
Unfortunately, the Hungarians only needed a couple of minutes to turn the next attack into points. Thanks to the initiative of Matthew BRADLEY of the home team playing with number 9, the result became 12:7 and after a few minutes 15:7 (the same Matthew Bradley scored from the penalty kick position).
In the first half, Latvian rugby players were prevented from successfully developing their attacks more than once by their own mistakes or “technical failure” – forward passes.
In the 30th minute of the game, when the hosts violated the rules, our rugby players had the opportunity to increase the number of points. From the penalty kick, making a kick against the wind, Robert Davidson was accurate again and 15:10.
Both teams played a lot with tacklers. Thanks to the activity of the “heavy rugby players”, the home team managed to add 3 more points to their account at the end of the first half. Therefore, after the first 40 minutes, the score is 18:10 – Latvia caught up.
The first minutes of the second half turned out to be more successful for our team and the Latvian team quickly reached 6 points when Roberts Dāvidsons was unstoppable twice from the penalty kick position. Therefore, when only 8 minutes had been played in the second half, the difference in the score was reduced to 2 points – 18:16.
The tension in the game continued to rise, leading to yellow cards for both teams. Matīss Zicāns was rejected from the Latvian team for 10 minutes, while the Hungarian national team got even 2 cards.
The Hungarians were able to bring the ball into the goal zone of the Latvian national team twice, but our rugby players, fighting selflessly, did not allow it to be pressed to the ground and the Hungarians remained without scored points.
In the 40 minutes of the second game, the initiative passed from one team to the other and then back again, as if on a swing, tickling the nerves of both the players and the spectators.
In the 69th minute of the game, Roberts Dāvidsons scored a penalty kick almost from the center of the field, and for the first time Latvian rugby players took the lead with 18:19.
One minute later, Robert Davidson had the opportunity to make a penalty kick from the identical position, but this time the kick was inaccurate and Latvia kept the fragile 1-point lead.
The teams continued to exchange attacks, unable to break through the opponents’ defense. Consequently, the game was decided by the chances and quality of the free kicks. 5 minutes before the end of the game, the Hungarian national team was accurate from a penalty kick (number 9 Matthew Bradley) and the hosts were already in the lead again with 21:19.
The Latvian national team made several substitutions and continued to fight for every meter of the pitch. It also gave results. In the last minute of the game, luck again swung in favor of the Latvian national team. The Hungarian team violated the rules in defense and Robert Davidson had the chance to take a penalty kick for the last time in this game. Number 15 of the player of the Latvian national team did not shake his nerves – an accurate penalty kick and a one-point advantage was achieved 21:22.
Immediately after the execution of the penalty kick, the referee’s whistle sounded, announcing the end of the game and the victory of the Latvian rugby team.
The most successful in the Latvian team:
Robert Davidson – 17 points
Tom Aseyev – 5 points
Thus, the Latvian national team has completed the 2022/2023 season cycle and ranked 4th in the Rugby Europe Conference 1 Northern Division group.
