Women's rugby team one step closer to survival in the elite

The Montenegrin women's senior rugby 7s team finished the first Trophy Division tournament in Makarska in 10th place out of a total of 12 teams, thus achieving its primary goal - ranking above the last two positions and an important step towards survival in the second strongest tier of European rugby.

After winning silver last year at the Conference 1 European Championship in Andorra and qualifying for the Trophy Division, the Montenegrin national team once again showed that they belong at this level of competition, despite extremely strong competition and the lack of performance of a standard player.

Although the Montenegrin rugby players played in this tournament against teams from countries where rugby has been played for decades and which were fielded by professional players, they gave each opponent at least one essay - the pressure for every meter of the field did not stop for a minute.

In the first game, Georgia was better with 34:5, while in the second game against Romania, Montenegrins led with 10:0, but in the end the result was still 15:19. Montenegro won against Andorra with 19:15 and lost to Moldova with 17:5. In the game for ninth place, Romania was again a little stronger and won with 29:10.

In two weeks, the Montenegrin national team will compete in the second tournament of the same competition, which will be held in Moldova.

The coach of the Montenegrin team, Nikola Luketa, expressed his satisfaction with the achieved result.

"In a tough competition and with major personnel problems, we showed that we belong in this division. Our goal was to avoid the last two places, which we succeeded in. It remains a regret because we could have done more, but we are moving forward. The tournament in Moldova is next, where the goal is the same, to stay in the division. I would like to thank the players who showed incredible desire and discipline, both on and off the field," said Luketa.

National team captain Saba Sekulović emphasized the importance of the achieved result.

"I am very proud of our result. This is a great achievement for our team. We did not enter any game as favorites, nor were much expected of us, and we managed to score an essay in every game. Our goal is to stay in the Trophy Division. We were let down by the details, not our readiness, rugby knowledge or individual skills. We will continue to work with the coaching staff to further improve," said Sekulić.

The Montenegrin national team now faces the second Trophy Series tournament in Moldova, where they will have the opportunity to confirm their progress and win survival among the best national teams at this level of European rugby.