The 2010–2012 European Nations Cup First Division is the premier rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 competition below the Six Nations Championship

Six Nations Championship

The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....

 in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

The divisions play on a two-year cycle with the teams playing each other both home and away. From 2009 onward, the title is assigned according to an one-year ranking. So Georgia won the 2011 title

The competition has been slightly altered for the 2010–2012 edition. The top division, formerly Division 1, now Division 1A, has seen the relegation of Germany

Germany national rugby union team

Germany is a third-tier Rugby Union playing nation. Germany currently plays at the second level of European rugby but has never managed to qualify for the Rugby World Cup...

, which has been replaced with the Ukraine

Ukraine national rugby union team

The Ukraine national rugby union team represents Ukraine at the sport of rugby union. Ukraine have been playing international rugby union since the early 1990s. So far they have not qualified for a Rugby World Cup. They participate in the European Nations Cup....

. The Division 1B, formerly the Division 2A, has been enlarged from five to six teams. No team was relegated from this division, but the Netherlands

Netherlands national rugby union team

The Netherlands national rugby union team are a national sporting side of the Netherlands, representing them at rugby union. The side first played in 1930.-History:...

 were promoted from the Division 2B.

The 2010–2012 champions of the Division 1A will not earn promotion to the Six nations tournament, but the champions of 1B will be promoted to 1A for 2012-14, while the last placed team in each division will be relegated. Unlike the previous edition, which also functioned as the 2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying

2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying

2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying began at the 2007 tournament in France, where twelve teams earned a place in the finals of the tournament, this automatically qualified them for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.After much speculation, it was confirmed on 30 November 2007 that 20 teams would...

, the 2010–2012 edition has no additional purpose.

Point system

Table points are determined as follows:

• 4 points for a win
• 2 points for a draw
• 0 point for a loss
• 1 bonus point for scoring 4 tries in a match
• 1 bonus point for losing by 7 points or fewer

Season 2010-2011

• Table

  ENC 2011 Champions

  Relegated for 2012–2014

133

97

15

2

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
1		5	5	0	0	168	35
22
2		5	3	0	2	166	69
16
3		5	3	0	2	113	98
14
4		5	2	0	3	100	98
11
5		5	2	0	3	92	175
10
6		5	0	0	5	61	225
0

• Games

• The scheduled match between Ukraine and Romania on February 12, 2011 was postponed due to snow and freezing weather in Kiev
  Kiev
  Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
  
   on the planned matchday, and was rescheduled to August 20 in Lviv
  Lviv
  Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
  
  .

Season 2011-2012

• Table

  ENC 2012 Champions

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
1		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

• Games

Season 2010-11

2011 Champions

35

24

10

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
1		5	4	0	1	123	88
18
2		5	4	0	1	115	91
18
3		5	3	0	2	122	112
14
4		5	3	0	2	102	99
12
5		5	1	0	4	109	117
7
6		5	0	0	5	74	138
1

• Games:

Season 2011-12

2012 Champions

33

55

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
1		3	2	1	0	71	38
11
2		4	1	0	3	41	98
7
3		2	1	1	0	30	23	7	6
4		1	1	0	0	55	0
5
5		2	1	0	1	31	41
4
6		2	0	0	2	17	45
0

• Games

Table 2010-2012

Promoted to Pool 1

Relegated for 2012–2014

43

31

90

Place	Nation	Games				Points			Table points
		played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
1		8	5	1	2	193	150
25
2		7	5	1	1	145	114
24
3		6	5	0	1	178	88
23
4		9	4	0	4	143	197
19
5		7	2	0	5	140	158
11
6		7	0	0	7	91	183
1

External links

• FIRA-AER official website