Removing the thorn from the lion's paw

If domestic rugby is making such great improvements, this begs an obvious question: why is the nation getting relegated?

The answer, as you would expect, is far from simple. When I first started sticking my nose into national rugby here, I did so hastily and naively after hearing multiple accounts of poor treatment of players and bias in the selection process. Fortunately for me the management chose to deal with me patiently rather than brush me aside, so over the last eight months I have been able to develop my own view of how it all works. So what have I found?

In professional sports the fans are always quick to hold the coach/manager responsible for the players’ shortcomings – something I have always despised. Having watched and worked with the NT coach on several occasions now, I have nothing but respect for him.  His knowledge of drills and tactics is invaluable to the players he commands. At my first NT camp, the coach sat the attendees down and outlined a simple but clearly-defined game plan and unanimous support was voiced by the players. To my knowledge that plan has never changed, yet since that time I cannot recall seeing it implemented on the field during a match. Once Finland get on the field, something in the collective player psyche switches off and all tactics become a distant memory.

Sounding familiar? It should do. When I arrived at my club I was staggered at the lack of communication and team play, despite much of the squad having played together for years. 18 months on and we are still trying to iron out these same problems, but the transformation has been unmistakeable. How was this achieved? By knowing in advance roughly what the squad composition would be and drilling them again and again as a team until they fully understood what to do and when.

(photo by Rod Mcracken - Bruised: the NT thank the crowd in Turku after a bitter loss to Bulgaria in May)

The difficulty is transferring this method to Finland’s national team. A clear problem is the lack of training time Finland’s NT gets as an actual squad. Recent camps have been open-invitational (meaning that clubs had wider discretion to nominate potential players, rather than the NT selectors having the final say) and it must be said that both camps were resounding successes. However, when one compares the list of players at the latest camps with the squad lists for the last two NT matches, you will notice some oddities: several players were drafted directly into the squad despite not having been at camps. Again, some could (and have) cried foul play in the selection process, and on some level it does seem wrong. Two things need to be carefully considered here. 

Firstly, the coach has and will always do his best to pick what he feels is a match-winning side. If he picks players from abroad or who could not make it to camps, I think we can safely say it not to spite domestic contenders.  It would have been damaging, if not dangerous, to select under-seasoned players to play against a team like Cyprus. Unfortunately this still leaves the problem that we are selecting a XV where some of the squad have had no training time with their teammates before the game. Therefore the first step to Finland's comeback must be the management making the rigid decision to make camps exclusively about training match squads – forget ‘open’ camps! Camps should be for drilling a preset team for the next match, not giving unsuitable players a fun experience. To keep numbers up both a match 22 and a development 22 should be invited, creating the opportunity for a training match.

(photo by Rod McCracken - Glimmers of hope: Finland drew first blood against group winners Cyprus)

The other consideration is somewhat delicate as it breaches the political side of Finnish rugby: Finland is brimming with talented players, so why are they not coming forward? The single biggest obstacle to NT progress is the lingering presence of past grudges on BOTH sides. If anything positive is to come from relegation, it must be that it is seen as a fresh start all-round. It is unfair to say that the NT is the old boys’ club that some claim it to be. I was delighted to see two Tampere locks make their debuts recently. After Tampere took 7 wins from 8 games last year it was only right that they be well-represented. Another 5 players gained their first cap against Cyprus recently. The time is now: Finland will have opportunities to build momentum against weaker opponents in Division 3, but we also have the chance to build a new squad, one that can grow together now and continue on when promotion is won.

With the whole season ahead of us free of NT games this is the time for all players, Championship and Division 1, to stake a claim. Open-mindedness is the key to future success: if the players commit and make an effort to work alongside each other, then it will be a team (not 22 individuals) that emerges to carry the flag forward for Finnish rugby.

Keep on rucking in the free world!  Hyvää Juhannusta kaikille!