The Finnish domestic season has now come to an end with a great Finals Day hosted by Linna RC (roundup and review articles coming later), but a brand new European Nations Cup season is just beginning!
The new format:
For those who haven't heard, Rugby Europe has rearranged the structure of the middle tier groups. What were formerly called ENC Division 2A-D have now been divided into Conference 1 and Conference 2, each with respective North and South divisions, with Finland competing in Conference 2 North (see graph below). Finland's first game will be away to Norway this Saturday!
 |
| The new structure for the European Nations Cup |
The potential benefit of the new structure for Finland is obvious, with Estonia, Norway and Denmark all relatively nearby and with frequent air routes. What I hope is that this will translate into more relaxed schedules for away games, resulting (hopefully) in the results that we all want to see.
Hungary remain an somewhat unknown quantity, although their away win over Estonia in Tallinn at the weekend announced their presence in a big way. Estonia's Finland-based coach, Ray Dickson, is already hard at work to prepare the squad for their next game against Finland in Helsinki on 22nd October, and he will have a keen eye on this weekend's game.
The Finland squad:
Like the Estonians, Finland have been given a tough draw to start their campaign as Norway have traditionally been strong at home. However, Finland coach Isaac Visser will be looking to build on the moment of a strong domestic season and the momentum generated in the National team by the heroic home win against Bulgaria in the spring. Coach Visser, who has made a point of attending as many games as possible in recent months, is feeling confident for the upcoming two games and has named the 23 below for the season opener, which includes 7 players who will earn their first caps. Visser noted that a very competitive domestic season made it clear that a new wave of players is ready to make the step up to national team level and, with a long campaign ahead, the squad will benefit from rewarding these emerging talents with a chance to build on their impressive domestic performances.
Let's get behind the team and give them all the support we can! Stay tuned for information about a possible live stream.
Forwards -
Ossi Aro (Helsinki)
Karl Filtness (Jyväskylä)
Mikko Gröndahl (Warriors) - 1st cap
Janne Heinänen (Jyväskylä)
Mauno Konttila (Jyväskylä)
Aaro Katainen (Jyväskylä)
Julius Kekeläinen (Tampere) - 1st cap
Matti Keränen (Kuopio)
Petter Larsen (OTS, Porvoo) - 1st cap
Mika Närhi (Espoo) - 1st cap
Christian Skögholm (Spartacus, Sweden)
Kalle Välimäki (Linna)
Backs -
Alex Clegg (Washington DC, USA)
Thomas Finell (Warriors)
Antti Haapanen (Linna) - 1st cap
Paavo Honkanen (Helsinki)
Antti Lammi (Warriors)
Crispin Mäenpää (Tampere)
Henri Repo (Warriors)
Tero Siivonen (Jyväskylä)
Philip Sleath (Tampere) - 1st cap
Jarno Suoja (Linna) - 1st cap
Jussi Viljanen (Kuopio)
Support staff -
Coach: Isaac Visser
Team Manager: Stephen Whittaker
Assistant: Chris Gibbons
 |
| Opponents become teammates: Helsinki's Ossi Aro (centre) and Warriors' Tumppi Finell (left) were competing in the men's Championship Final last weekend, but will team up for Finland against Norway. (Photo copyright to Juha Tamminen) |
Norway on film:
Here are links to match videos of two of Norway's recent home games from the last ENC season:
Norway v Turkey
Norway v Bosnia
No comments:
Post a Comment