Finland brought their 2016 rugby season to a celebratory end as they racked more than 50 points to beat Estonia and reclaim the International Rugby Partnership Shield at Myllypuro!
First and foremost, if you were not able to attend or watch the live stream, you can watch the game film
here. You can find an alternative filming from WrcAtsu
here.
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| Finland lock Karl Filtness secures a lineout near the Estonia try line. |
Kuopio's Jussi Viljanen, currently playing in the UK, had another strong performance, scoring 3 tries as well as penalty kick. Ossi Aro, Richard 'Bam' Hennessy, Samu-Petteri Pääkkä, Matti Keränen and Antti Lammi also crossed the line, with Lammi also slotting some tricky second-half conversions on a windy day. Coach Isaac Visser praised the efforts of all 23 players (who all got game time) in brief post on the Suomen Rugbyliitto's Facebook page.
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| The game in number: the respective lineups and action log from the game. |
What to be happy about:
- First and foremost, the result. Finland will be thrilled to have not only survived the first potential banana skin game, but to have also secured a vital bonus point.
- This was the most complete attacking game that I have seen from a Finland back line. Cast your mind back to the win over Bulgaria in the Spring and then re-watch the Estonia game: it's unrecognizable. The combination of Bam Hennessy, Tumppi Finell and Jussi Viljanen at 10, 12 and 13 was a big success.
- We have seen new faces performing well. Julius Kekäläinen has thoroughly deserved his place in the team and will look to build on solid performances. Phil Sleath, Samu-Petteri Pääkkö and Bam Hennessy all made good impressions against Estonia, with the latter two scoring tries. Combine these talents with the experience of players like Aaro Katainen, Tumppi Finell and Kosti Eskola and we're definitely in a good position to take the next step.
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| Centre Jussi Viljanen on races to his hattrick. |
What Finland will look to improve before Denmark in the Spring:
- Finland's set piece in the forwards did not go to plan. Credit to Estonia for disrupting the lineout (although at the same time, credit to Karl Filtness and Aaro Katainen for their smart reactions to the non-engagement at the mauls). More importantly the Finnish scrum, usually a safe area, came under far more pressure than expected. Scrum timing and lineout decision making and execution only come as a result of practice, so we'll be hoping to see a few camps over the Winter.
- Less of an improvement and more of a standard, Finland will need to be conscious of the off-season lull. We have a long break in rugby before the next game, which creates the danger in a decrease in match-fitness and game awareness. Denmark will be facing a similar problem, so it may come down to which side is more disciplined over the break.
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| How the group stands after 2 games each. |
Some points on the performance:
ReplyDelete-Lineout, it is way too static, Danes will probably have a good lineout and tall timber, so Finland need to be smart in the way the lineout is executed, movement and maybe go to a short one early on?
-Scrum, seemed like the Estonians were pushing in from all kinds of angles, and got pinged a couple of times, however that doesn't take away the fact that Finland were under the pump and got pinged themselves on at least one occasion. I expect Chris Gibbons to address the front rowers what to do when the opposition is "cheating"
-Defensive structure, the Finnish mid-field got found out a couple times by a simple dummy-switch move (Yes Estonia had very big and strong centers, credit to them too), which one got through untouched (IIRC) so might only be lack of (defensive)combinations between 10-12-13, but 1-on-1 defence can never be too good!
Overall I think the game was a bit sloppy for the first 50 or so minutes and Finland even had some problems on exiting their own half on the second quarter of the game, but only 6 points conceded says that defence was on point when it mattered. At no point was there a feeling where I thought "this might get tight" so the game was well in Finnish hands from start to finnish.
Going forward I would like to see more ball playing across the park, rugby is game played by 15 men at the same time so everyone should be passing and running, not only the playmakers. For example Aaro and Kosti are very mobile for big units and they should be used more in the wide channels to add tackle busting and making space for the pacey wingers to run in to. Maybe even use some behind the back plays from a forward pod to a rowing 10, 12 or 13 to keep the defense guessing and on their heels?