2002–03 European Nations Cup Third Division
# 2002–03 European Nations Cup Third Division

The 2002–2004 European Nations Cup was the fourth edition of the newly reformed European Championship for tier 2 & 3 Rugby Union Nations. This was the second two-year cycled championship, the first to be planned from the start.

The Third division had a controversy development. The team were divided into three groups according to the ranking of previous edition to play, but there were several problems:

* In pool "A" Andorra withdrew and only four teams remained.
* In pool "C" Monaco were banned after the match with Finland, because of the presence of a French player that was not eligible to play for Monaco.
* Again in pool "C" the match between Bulgaria and Norway was annulled because the designed referee wasn't able to arrive in Sofia and was substituted by another referee, called by the Bulgarian federation.

So the European federation decided to change from a two-years formula to a one-year formula again, considering the two matches played in Pool "C" as friendlies and turning the Pool into a short knock-out tournament held in Ibiza, Spain. Furthermore, the winners of Pools B and C were promoted, respectively, to Pools A and B for the 2003–04 edition. No promotions from Pool A to Second division were awarded, nor relegations to lower Pools.

## Pool A

The highest level was the Pool "A", with five teams:

* Latvia relegated from second division
* Moldova
* Serbia and Montenegro
* Hungary promoted from Group B
* Andorra (retired from competition)

### Table

| Place | Nation | Games | Games | Games | Games | Points | Points | Points | Table points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Place | Nation | played | won | drawn | lost | for | against | difference | Table points |
| 1 | Latvia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 98 | 23 | +75 | 9 |
| 2 | Moldova | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 64 | 71 | −7 | 6 |
| 3 | Hungary | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 63 | 96 | −33 | 5 |
| 4 | Serbia and Montenegro | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 58 | 93 | −35 | 4 |

### Results

* 5 October 2002

| Latvia | 26–5 | Hungary |
| - | - | - |

* Riga
* 26 April 2003

| Hungary | 47–23 | Serbia and Montenegro |
| - | - | - |

* Esztergom
* 26 April 2003

| Latvia | 43–0 | Moldova |
| - | - | - |

* Riga
* 3 May 2003

| Serbia and Montenegro | 18–29 | Latvia |
| - | - | - |

* Beograd
* 10 May 2003

| Moldova | 47–11 | Hungary |
| - | - | - |

* Chişinău
* 24 May 2003

| Moldova | 17–17 | Serbia and Montenegro |
| - | - | - |

* Chişinău

## Pool B

The middle level was the Pool "B", with five teams:

* Austria relegated from pool "A"
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malta promoted from pool "C"

### Table

| Place | Nation | Games | Games | Games | Games | Points | Points | Points | Table points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Place | Nation | played | won | drawn | lost | for | against | difference | Table points |
| 1 | Malta | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 101 | 54 | +47 | 12 |
| 2 | Lithuania | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 147 | 53 | +94 | 10 |
| 3 | Luxembourg | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 58 | 113 | −55 | 8 |
| 4 | Austria | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 65 | 88 | −23 | 6 |
| 5 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 40 | 103 | −63 | 4 |

* Malta promoted to Pool A

### Results

* 27 October 2002

| Luxembourg | 21–5 | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| - | - | - |

* Cessange
* 23 November 2002

| Malta | 22–18 | Lithuania |
| - | - | - |

* Marsa
* 26 November 2002

| Lithuania | 32–10 | Austria |
| - | - | - |

* Vilnius
* 30 November 2002

| Austria | 16–25 | Malta |
| - | - | - |

* Wien
* 29 March 2003

| Malta | 34–6 | Luxembourg |
| - | - | - |

* Marsa
* 5 April 2003

| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 14–20 | Malta |
| - | - | - |

* Sarajevo
* 10 May 2003

| Luxembourg | 25–14 | Austria |
| - | - | - |

* Cessange
* 24 May 2003

| Lithuania | 60–6 | Luxembourg |
| - | - | - |

* Klaipėda
* 7 June 2003

| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 15–37 | Lithuania |
| - | - | - |

* Zenica
* 14 June 2003

| Austria | 25–6 | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| - | - | - |

* Wien

## Pool C

* "No official" match :
* 19 October 2002

| Monaco | 90–0 | Finland |
| - | - | - |

* Monte Carlo
* 26 October 2002

| Bulgaria | 21–12 | Norway |
| - | - | - |

* Sofia

### Semifinals

* 5 June 2003

| Israel | 30–13 | Norway |
| - | - | - |

* Ibiza
* 5 June 2003

| Bulgaria | 42–3 | Finland |
| - | - | - |

* Ibiza

### Third place final

* 7 June 2003

| Finland | 20–55 | Norway |
| - | - | - |

* Ibiza

### First place final

* 7 June 2003

| Israel | 23–25 | Bulgaria |
| - | - | - |

* Ibiza
* Bulgaria promoted to Pool B
