Men’s National Team « Finland Rugby

12.06.2011

Finland played host to Greece yesterday in the last game of the Spring internationals. Having recently been entertained by Cyprus (a loss 70-10) and then Bulgaria (a narrow loss of 12-10) the Finnish team were looking to capitalise on recent advancements with the team. Playing in their own backyard of Myllypuro in Helsinki, there was only 1 thing in the minds of the Finnish team: win. A win was long overdue and conditions were perfect to achieve such a thing. With several late injuries to the Finnish team with replacements being drafted in at the 11th hour, it was all set. The game was played under intense sun and from the kick off Greece showed intent to run with the ball. However an early penalty awarded to the Finns put them 3-0 up but Greece were not going to sit back, and came straight back with a converted try. Half time score was 3-7. The 2nd half got underway and it carried on in much the same way as the first.Finland played to their strengths and dominated the scrums and line outs and it was from this that Petri Virrankoski crashed over for a try with Jussi Viljanen adding the extras. Play continued at pace with Greece trying to bust through, but Finland’s defence, be it scrambled or set held strong and it wasn’t long before the whistle blew. Mass hysteria erupted between crowd and Finnish players as Finland recorded it’s 1st win in too long a time.

http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/group-6.htm

01.02.2011

The Men’s National Team held a training camp last weekend at Eerikkilä Sports Institute. With over 30 players in attendance, preparations for the upcoming game against Cyprus are going well. An abundance of players means places in the match day 22 are going to be highly contested, with only the Coach’s position being the guaranteed name on the team sheet.

The next training camp will be held on the 3rd weekend of March, 1 week before the departure to Cyprus.

15.01.2011

At the end of January the Men’s National Team will meet up in Eerikkila to continue preparations for their match against Cyprus in March, this will also be the 1s camp under the watchful eyes of newly installed coach Alan Hine, Finland will be looking to improve on their last result against Luxembourg by putting in a good show for the away game against Cyprus, and lifting themselves of the bottom of the group.

05.01.2011

The Men’s National Team took a further step towards becoming a more elite set, by signing the Code of Conduct proposed by the SRL, the code of conduct has been drawn up by the SRL and incorporates all the elements needed to make sure the NT acts and represents itself to a professional standard, It is also an absolute requirement for any player wishing to represent Finland at National level.

Finnish National Team player represents in both codes.

Christian Skögholm, a prop for the Finnish Men’s Senior side is the first player to represent in both codes of the game, Union and League, albeit his Union efforts are for Finland whilst his League contribution is for Sweden.
a brief report can be found from the below link:

http://www.swedenrugbyleague.se/match-report-20101030.html

Finland – Luxemburg 9.10. Hippos, Jyväskylä

Team Finland faces Luxemburg on Saturday in the opening match of a new European Cup season. The match will kick off at 14.30 in Hippos Stadium, Jyväskylä. In the final preparation match Finland beat Estonia in Helsinki lst Saturday 55-5. Welcome to support Team Finland! Finland squad below:

Squad for Luxemburg match

Forwards	Backs
Number	Name	Club	Number	Name	Club
1	Semu Salmivalli	Eagles	1	Ilkka Tuomaala	Eagles
2	Jussi Keskinen	WRC	2	Galen Rangiawha	Eagles
3	Juha Rainvuori	WRC	3	Mika Takala	HRC
4	Mehdi Marami	HRC	4	Crispin Mäenpää	TRUC
5	Ville Siiskonen	HRC	5	Thomas Finell (C)	WRC
6	Erik Pekkola	WRC	6	Petri Pallari	HRC
7	Ari Tikkanen	JRC	7	Joonas Santala	HRC
8	Stephen Whittaker (VC)	HRC	8	Patrik Pietelä	LAHTI
9	Christian Skögholm	Spartacus	9	Simon Elliott	HRC
10	Mauno Konttila	TRUC
11	Jaakko Vilen	WRC
12	Olli-Pekka Tuomaala	VAASA
13	Juha Harju	EAgles

Finland – Estonia 2.10. Helsinki

Finland faces Estonia on Saturday in the second part of the biannual International Friendship Shield. The match will kick off at 14.00 in Myllypuro Sports Park. Finland beat Estonia in Tallinn 15 – 22 in May. Estonia match is the last preparation for the upcoming European Cup contest. Finland challenges Luxembrg in Jyväskylä on October 9th. Welcome to support Team Finland! Finland squad below:

Squad for Estonia match

Forwards	Backs
Number	Name	Club	Number	Name	Club
1	Salmivalli Semu	Turku Eagles	1	Tuomaala Ilkka	Turku Eagles
2	Jussi Keskinen	HWRC	2	Galen Rangiawha	Eagles
3	Juha Rainvuori	HWRC	3	Mika Takala	HRC
4	Mehdi Marami	HRC	4	Aro Rami	Enköping
5	Ville Siiskonen	HRC	5	Thomas Finell (C)	HWRC
6	Erik Pekkola	HWRC	6	Petri Pallari	HRC
7	Ari Tikkanen	JRC	7	Joonas Santala	HRC
8	Stephen Whittaker (VC)	HRC	8	Patrik Pietelä	LAHTI
9	Christian Skögholm	Spartacus	9	Simon Elliott	HRC
10	Mauno Konttila	TRUC
11	Jaakko Vilen	HWRC
12	Olli-Pekka Tuomaala	VAASA
13	Siiskonen Ville	HRC

Match report, Finland v Israel

Finland – Israel 6-13 (0-5)

Finland and Israel battled in the last match of European Nations Cup, division 3, group C. While the group-winning Israelis, tried to remain their clean sheet, was Team Finland aiming to end the season with a surprise win. Last match between these two teams in blue & white ended with Israel’s crushing victory, 78-5.

First half started with Israeli pressure. Stormy wind and varying Finnish summer weather made the line-outs and kicking game extremely difficult. Finland battled hard especially in defense but the Israelis broke the Finnish lines after ten minutes with a try from the right side. After the opening try Team Finland pushed hard and controlled the scrums. Still the first half ended with Israeli lead 0-5.

In the beginning of the second half Israel caused some problems to Finland with their strong runs around the rucks. Israel increased their lead to 0-8 after a successful penalty kick. Finland was able to tighten their defenses after this and battered the Israeli lines with nice runs and constant domination in scrums. Finland’s player of the game, Mikael Ahola (8), and scrum half Simon Elliott were leading the chase. Captain Thomas Finell kicked Finland to 3-8 from a penalty kick.

The latter part of second half started with two disputed situations. First, Finland’s substitute wing Patrik Pietilä, booted a huge kick out of the 22 towards the try zone. After a long chase he was able to ground the ball before the Israelis. Finns celebrated a try for a while but the referee trio decided to deny the attempt because the ball touched the end line. Almost immediately after Israel scored another try. Finns waved that the Israeli wing was out of touch before he tipped the ball back in play but the referee disagreed. Israelis increased the lead to 3-13.

Finns never gave up and the last ten minutes the pressure was on the visitors. Finnish lions kept on pushing and soon Thomas Finell kicked another penalty between the verticals, 6-13. Team Finland kept on fighting but unfortunately the attacks did not lead to a decisive try. Close but no cigar. Finland’s hopes for victory turned into tears of dissapointment when the final whistle was blown. Israelis held their lines till the end.

Despite the loss Team Finland can look into the future with heads held high. Close defeats against Luxembourg and Greece was turned into a victory against Estonia in May. And no one can say that Finland did not play well today against the group-winning Israelis. With slight improvements and continuous hard work Finland is surely able to battle for points when the new season of European Nations Cup kicks in in October.

Team Finland would like to thank all its supporters, fans and stakeholders for this International season. We will see you again in October!
-JS-

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Men’s National Team