Rugby Test: Finland Play in Luxembourg

07.11.2009
Finland v Luxembourg in Luxembourg (ENC 3C)

Venue: Stade Josy Barthel

Referee: Donovan (Denmark)

Preview
For these two teams this is the match that will probably decide who is relegated to ENC 3D for 2010-12.

Both teams have lost to Bulgaria in this the second round. Luxembourg played away whilst Finland, looking the weaker of the two, lost heavily to the Eastern Europeans at home. On the strength of that Luxembourg, playing at home, looks the likely winner.

Marty Davis, the coach of Luxembourg is fortunate to have Bond and Timmermans back in the backline after injury.

Luxembourg is actually one of the smallest nations playing rugby but there are now about 700 registered players in Luxembourg a big increase from 2000 when there was only 200 so the sport in the Grand Duchy is seeing a real growth, “which we want to see reflected in the success of [the] national team”, said Davis in an interview with station.lu. Ten out of the 22 players in the squad were born in Luxembourg.

Finland has struggled in this division and has lost its last six internationals. This test will be a desperate struggle for a win to lift them away from relegation.

Sources-http://www.station.lu/index.php?p=edito&id=13195
http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3262

Previous Encounters
04.10.2008 Luxembourg 27-19 in Helsinki (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 3C)
24.05.2008 Finland 11-10 in Helsinki (ENC 3C)
30.09.2006 Luxembourg 18-8 in Cessange (ENC 3C)

GWC Rugby Rankings: Europe Table-Luxembourg 36th, Finland 37th

Prediction: Luxembourg by 16 points.

Teams

Luxembourg Squad
Nicholas Abel
William Bond
Julien Da Col
Alan Dunn
Christopher Ellis
Bryan Fage
Jonathan Flynn
Nicholas Geoffreys
Alexander Goodhew
Flavien Grimmer
Willy Lafaysse
Christian Lowe
Scott Mckinlay
Michael Minehan
Christophe Narcisse
Glenn Nordahl
Saman Rezapour
Nicolas Rivoallan
Euan Roger
Nigel Sharplin
Adrien Timmerman
Philippe Vimond

Head Coach: Marty Davis

http://www.rugby.lu/news_fiche.asp?newsID=142

Finland
Team not available at this time.
Head Coach: Lee Bolger