TEST RUGBY: Finland Travels To Cyprus

26.03.2011
Finland v Cyprus in Pahos (ENC 2D)

Venue: Pafiako Stadium

Referee: A.Cabral (Israel)

Cyprus winning 15-0 v Bosnia Herzegovina, this time last year, and promotion to the new ENC 2D. Plus motivation music.

Preview
Cyprus’ run of wins was extended to eight when they defeated Bulgaria last month. Since their first rugby test match back in 2007, Cyrpus has lost only one of their thirteen test encounters, to Israel 14-23 in a 3C/3D playoff.

Finland has the disadvantage of the away fixture but also not having played as a team since last October. I can’t see them getting anywhere near Cyprus on present form.

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
CYPRUS	2	2	0	0	88	21	67	2	0	10
BULGARIA	3	2	0	1	51	85	-34	0	0	8
LUXEMB.	2	1	0	1	26	28	-2	0	1	5
FINLAND	1	0	0	1	10	18	-8	0	1	1
GREECE	2	0	0	2	35	58	-23	0	1	1

Last Five Encounters
This is the first time these two teams have met

Finland Last Five
09.10.2010 v Luxembourg L 10-18 in Helsinki (ENC 2D)
02.10.2010 v Estonia W 55-5 in Helsinki (Friendly)
12.06.2010 v Israel L 6-13 in Helsinki (ENC 3C)
22.05.2010 v Estonia W 22-15 in Viimsi (Friendly)
27.02.2010 v Greece L 10-31 in Patras (ENC 3C)

Cyprus Last Five
12.03.2011 v Bulgaria W 55-8 in Paphos (ENC 2D)
20.11.2010 v Greece W 33-13 in Athens (ENC 2D)
27.03.2010 v Bosnia Herzegovina W 15-0 in Paphos (ENC 3D)
06.03.2010 v Azerbaijan W 59-0 in Paphos (ENC 3D)
14.11.2009 v Monaco W 44-5 in Menton (ENC 3D)

GWC Rugby Rankings
Europe Table-Cyprus 34th, Finland 38th
IRB Rankings do not apply

Prediction: Cyprus by 58 points

Teams

Finland Squad

Forwards:
Marc-Olivier Meunier
Juha Rainvuori (Helsinki Warriors)
Riku Ryynänen (Helsinki Warriors)
Semu Salmivalli (Turku Eagles)
Aaro Katainen
Ari Tikkanen (Jyväskylä Rugby Club)
Jaakko Vilen (Helsinki Warriors)
Stephen Whittaker (Helsinki Rugby Club)
Stuart Reynish (Helsinki Warriors)
Ville Siiskonen (Helsinki Rugby Club)
Mauno Konttila (Tampere Rugby Club)
Jussi Keskinen (Helsinki Warriors)
Olli-Pekka Tuomaala (Vaasa Wolves)

Backs:
Mikko Järvi
Petri Pallari (Helsinki Rugby Club)
Crispin Mäenpää (Tampere Rugby Club)
Joakim Grader
Lasse Sariola (Helsinki Warriors)
Thomas Finell, Capt. (Helsinki Warriors)
Antti Lammi (Jyväskylä Rugby Club)
Ilkka Tuomaala (Turku Eagles)

New Caps( if I read this correctly) Juuso Sirénille and Aaro Kataiselle

Head Coach: Alan Hine

Adapted from http://www.rugby.fi/fi/squad-announced-mens-national-team-face-cyprus

Cyprus squad not available