Euros Preview

On the eve of the Euros a look at the seedings / previous results and where teams may finish when the dust has settled on Sunday evening...

Seedings for the 8th Euros are decided by each country's finishing position in the 7th Euros held at Massy, France, in 2008. This is provided that a country competed in that category at the last Euros. For countries that did not have a team registered in a particular category, or were not FIT registered, seedings places are allocated by random.

England finished first in MO, WO and M30 last time around and so are top seeds in these sections. The English dominace was broken by a Scotland win in the XO, defeating England 12-9 in the final. Scotland and England also met in the M30 final, the score being 6-3. England had no entries in the Masters section, the M35s were taken by Wales in Massy, beating Scotland in the final (6-4), and the M40s by Ireland who defeated the hosts France. The points collected by England in the five scoring categories they entered were enough to retain the overall champions trophy.

In 2008 Wales came runners up in both MO and WO, this along with a 3rd in XO and their win in the M35 was enough to see them finish a point above Scotland in the final overall standings. Although the XO win was a major boost for Scotland a 3rd in WO and 4th in MO, along with runners up places in M30 and M35, were not quite enough to lift them above Wales in total points.

This time round only England, Wales and France have teams in all 6 scoring categories. England also have a senior mixed team competing in the XO section. Scotland won't have a M40 team at Bristol but do have a W30 who, along with the England W30, will compete against the WO teams.

Other countries with multiple teams include Ireland, competing in MO, XO, M35 & M40. After their strong showing in Massy with the M40 it will be interesting to see if M35 & M40 teams will dilute their masters talent pool. Will the champion M40 team be kept together? Will the M35 'youngsters' be able to emulate their success?

Germany again have several teams competing; coming in as 4th seeds in the WO after some strong performances in France. They will also feature in XO and M30, where players who have gained experience in the last few Euros are bound to feature.

Guernsey had a strong showing at the last Euros and again send a large squad, with entries in all three open divisions plus a M30. They will be hoping to net enough points to again punch above their weight when it comes to the final standings.

Spain will be another country hoping to make big strides in performance and with entries in MO, XO and M30 they could finish well up the rankings.

After fielding MO and WO in 2008 the only representation from Jersey at Bristol will be a XO team. However those of you with longer touch memories will know that it wasn't so long ago that Jersey were the powehouse in this category. Prior to England capturing their crown in Edinburgh in 2006 Jersey had a run of wins in XO, including a thrilling final on home soil in 2004. This could be one team to watch out for.

The Swiss may also be battling to finish the highest of the middle-order teams with entries in WO, XO & M30. Expect a mixture of languages and home nations!

Although the nations that are only sending one or two teams may not be a threat in the overall standings they could still feature high up in individual sections and may cause some upsets to the more established teams. With emerging nations it is impossible to predict how many southern (or northern!) hemisphere ex-pats will feature amongst home grown talent. So who from Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Belgium & Austria can upset the old order?