Norway team to face Finland on Saturday

Yesterday we got a look at the Finland 23 that will travel to Oslo for Saturday's European Nations Cup game against Norway. Now we also know the team that will host them.

The Norges Rugbyforbund posted the team today on their Facebook page:

The Norway squad to face Finland this weekend.

There are plenty of changes since Norway last hosted Finland back in October 2014. On the other hand, despite a few notable exceptions (such as Sondre Gundersen moving to openside flanker after playing at scrum-half in Norway's recent games!), this is team contains a lot of the same names who represented Norway at the end of the last ENC season.

Norway's lineup from their last ENC game vs Turkey in May.

15 of the 23 for this Saturday's game, including 13 of the starting team, featured in Norway's last game in May. 12 of this week's team also played in the game before that (away to Turkey in April). What this tells us is that this is a team that knows how to play together, not just in training but in games as well, and that consistency and momentum will undoubtedly work in Norway's favour.

What to expect:

Norway has a strong back line, packed full of useful runners. All of Norway's 28 points in their last game came from backs, including 13 points from fly-half and captain, Nathan Cummins. Finland also need to be aware of fullback Robert Gannon: Finland have previously encountered him as a 10 and 12. If Finland are smart, they will avoid purposeless kicking that could give Norway the opportunity to kick clear or counter-attack.

The lineout could prove to be a key battleground. Norway have multiple jumping options, using full lineouts and 5-man systems with dummy jumpers to create space. Finland's defensive lineouts will need to identify to key players early and be flexible with their lifting pods to disrupt this - one thing highlighted in the Turkey game was that Norway's lineouts can be inconsistent when under pressure.

The Norwegian defensive structure looks solid, but they did struggle with Turkey's powerful runners in first-up tackles. However, if Finland want to benefit from this, they need to not only put faith in their ball carriers, but also make sure that support players are close by. I'd like to see Finland create space for the back line to test Norway's backs in defence with more running attacks than we saw against Bulgaria.

Here again is the film from Norway v Turkey for you to make your own assessment.