Croatia rugby face Lithuania in important clash in Zagreb
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
(Photo: Berislav Rožman)
Croatia will play its fourth match in the European Trophy division of against Lithuania on Saturday, 16 March in Zagreb at SRC Stjepan Spajić.
The game, which will kick off at 2:30 PM, will be broadcasted live on the MaxSport 2 channel.
“Yes, this is definitely a crucial match for us to secure our stay in this group, and we must win,” said coach Anthony Poša.
“We trained very well, both last weekend in Sinj and this week in Zagreb. It’s just a shame we didn’t have a preparatory match. But we couldn’t find an opponent of satisfactory level,” the coach added.
Some players are available for the clash, but at the last moment, Daniel Mau’u, a New Zealander with a Samoan father and a Croatian mother, joined the team.
Daniel Mau’u celebrates with his brother at the final whistle after beating Lithuania (Photo credit: Berislav Rožman)
Jason Newton, who secured victory for Croatia in Lithuania last year with a last-second penalty kick, is absent. Dominik Plazibat returns after a long injury. Krešimir Čorić is also back, and after several years of absence from the national team, whilst Dylan Rowe also returns.
Marko Livaić, and the Rizzi brothers, Domingo and Francisco, Argentines of Croatian descent, are in the lineup for the first time.
“The approach has been great all week, the new guys have integrated well, and I expect them to contribute coming off the bench. We know how Lithuania plays, but the focus is on us, and what matters most is how we perform,” concluded Poša.
(Photo: Berislav Rozman)
Croatia’s lineup for the match: 1 Daniel Mau’u, 2 Krešimir Čorić, 3 Ilija Biškić, 4 Marko Buljac, 5 Dražen Brčić-Šušak, 6 Ivo Perić, 7 Marko Svaguša, 8 Dylan Rowe, 9 Niko Vranešević, 10 Nik Jurišić, 11 Nikola Pavlović, 12 Marko Grčić, 13 Filip Perica, 14 Matej Buljanović, 15 Domagoj Plazibat. Reserves: 16 Jan Vlašić, 17 Martin Altamirano, 18 Tomislav Fišić, 19 Ante Majić, 20 Marko Livaić, 21 Luka Lerotić, 22 Domingo Rizzi, 23 Francisco Rizzi.
Trophy division standings: Switzerland 12 points (3 matches), Czech Republic 9 (4), Sweden 8 (3), Croatia 6 (3), Lithuania 4 (3), Ukraine 0 (2).
