Marko Gvozdenović capped a man-of-the-match display with a brace of tries and a conversion as Serbia bucked a two-game losing run in the European Nations Cup Division 2C with an impressive 26-12 bonus-point victory against Austria in Vienna.

Aleksander Djordjevic and Pedrag Keglic were the other Serbian try scorers as Austria were beaten at home for the third game in a row. Austria scored a try in each half from number eight Alexander Radomirov and second-half replacement Paul Hruschka.

Adjacent to each other in the World Rugby Rankings before kick-off, Serbia and Austria are now 11 places apart. While Serbia climb two to 80th, at the expense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the loss of 1.29 rating points sees Austria plummet to 91st in the world.

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Higher up the European Nations Cup ladder, the Czech Republic maintained their position at the top of Division 2A with a 26-5 home win over Croatia.

The Czechs scored three tries through the forwards and were awarded a penalty try, with replacement back Marco Bunić grabbing a late consolation for Croatia in second-half stoppage time.

Neither side’s position is affected by the result, with the Czech Republic still 33rd in the world and Croatia holding on to 46th place, narrowly ahead of Colombia.

Swiss on a roll

In the same division, Switzerland remain the Czech Republic's nearest rivals after making it three wins from three with a 29-3 victory over Malta in Zurich.

The Swiss stormed into a 15-0 lead in as many minutes following tries by flanker Cyril Lin and winger Florian Escoffier but it was another 48 minutes before they scored again through number eight Bruce Mozeglio. Winger Lucas Heinrich added a fourth to send the 2,500-strong crowd home happy.

The victory was worth one-third of a rating point and results in Switzerland trading places with Poland to move within one of the Czech Republic, in 34th. Malta drop one place to 50th with Senegal the beneficiaries.

In Division 2B, Cyprus came out on top against bottom-of-the-table Hungary, in a game that did not affect the rankings as the winners are not a full member union of World Rugby. Cyprus scored a try in each half through scrum-half Burham Tourgut and full-back Matthew King, to win 15-3.

Photo: Ronald Wurwal