2017–18 Rugby Europe International Championships
The 2017–18 Rugby Europe International Championships is the European Championship for tier 2 and tier 3 rugby union nations. The 2017–18 season is the second of its new format and structure, where all Levels play on a one-year cycle, replacing the old format of a two-year cycle, with the teams playing each other both home and away.
| 2017–18 Rugby Europe International Championships | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | October 2017 – June 2018 | ||
| Countries | 35 | ||
| Tournament statistics | |||
| Champions | Championship Georgia (10) Trophy Portugal (2) Conference 1 Lithuania (2) Malta (2) Conference 2 Luxembourg (1) Cyprus (1) Development Bulgaria (1) | ||
| Antim Cup | (11th title) | ||
| Matches played | 73 | ||
| Attendance | 190,278 (2,607 per match) | ||
| Tries scored | 509 (6.97 per match) | ||
| Top point scorer(s) | Championship Yuri Kushnarev (45) Trophy Liam McBride (57) Conference Cassius Deschamps (59) Development Petar Nikolov (41) | ||
| Top try scorer(s) | Championship Sione Faka'osilea (3) Paula Kinikinilau (3) Giorgi Kveseladze (3) Fernando López Pérez (3) Anton Rudoy (3) Trophy Sep Visser (8) Conference Gauthier Bares (5) Igor Dejanović (5) James Kirk (5) Christian Melgaard (5) Luke Watts (5) Development Ivayilo Ivanov (4) | ||
| Official website | Rugby Europe | ||
| |||
For all teams competing in the Championship, except for Georgia, this year's edition of the Rugby Europe International Championships doubles as the second year of 2019 Rugby World Cup qualifiers for the European region, where the winner of the two-year cycle, excluding Georgia, automatically qualifies to the tournament as Europe 1. All other teams remain in contention, playing in their respective leagues, but also playing in World Cup play-offs, for the right to play in the Europe/Oceania play-off against Oceania 3.