EUROPEAN NATIONS CUP: Division 2D

21.04.2012
Finland v Luxembourg in Luxembourg (ENC 2D)

Venue: Stade "Josy Barthel",

Referee: Christophe Secat (Switzerland)

Preview
Both Finland and Luxembourg hold up the bottom of the points table in Division 2D. Luxembourg has an historical advantage over Finland in that over the past few seasons they have always defeated their northern rivals. Luxembourg will certainly have the home ground advantage which is always worth plenty of points at this level of test rugby.

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
CYPRUS	5	5	0	0	256	38	218	5	0	25
GREECE	6	3	0	3	135	100	35	2	2	16
BULGARIA	6	4	0	2	89	158	-69	0	0	16
FINLAND	5	1	0	4	47	123	-72	0	1	5
LUXEMB.	6	1	0	5	67	175	-98	0	1	5

Last Five Encounters
09.10.2010 Luxembourg 18-10 in Helsinki (ENC 2D)
07.11.2009 Luxembourg 9-3 in Luxembourg (ENC 3C)
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)

Finland Last Five
12.11.2011 v Greece L 6-16 in Athens (ENC 2D)
11.06.2011 v Greece W 11-7 in Helsinki (ENC 2D)
14.05.2011 v Bulgaria L 10-12 in Pernik (ENC 2D)
26.03.2011 v Cyprus L 10-70 in Paphos (ENC 2D)
09.10.2010 v Luxembourg L 10-18 in Helsinki (ENC 2D)

Luxembourg Last Five
22.10.2011 v Bulgaria L 16-19 in Pernik (ENC 2D)
08.10.2011 v Cyprus L 7-48 in Paphos (ENC 2D)
07.05.2011 v Cyprus L 0-50 in Luxembourg (ENC 2D)
02.04.2011 v Greece L 18-30 in Athens (ENC 2D)
13.11.2010 v Bulgaria L 8-18 in Luxembourg (ENC 2D)

GWC Rugby Rankings
Europe Table-Finland 37th, Luxembourg 38th

IRB Ranking Points
Luxembourg 32.26, Finland 27.70

Prediction: Luxembourg by 6 points

Teams

Luxembourg

1. Saman Rezapour (Rugby Club Luxembourg)
2. Adam Marcus (Belsize Park RFC, England))
3. Kim Zimmer (RC Walferdange)
4. Zelito Neves dos Santos (RC Walferdange)
5. Niko Rivallen (LONGWY)
6. Stuart Kelly (Rugby Club Luxembourg)
7. Scott MacKinlay (Rugby Club Luxembourg)
8. Julien da Col (RC Walferdange)
9. Nigel Sharplin (Rugby Club Luxembourg)
10. Tim Seite (RC Walferdange)
11. Thibaud Sacaze (RC Walferdange)
12. Bryan Fage (RC Walferdange)
13. Damien Bessieres (Rugby Club Luxembourg)
14. Cedric Handschoewerker (RC Walferdange)
15. Steven Clarke (Rugby Club Luxembourg)
16. James Clarke (Rugby Club Luxembourg)
17. Christophe Balthazard (Rugby Club Luxembourg)
18. Robin Dex (Rugby Club Luxembourg)
19. Yared Ketema (Rugby Club Luxembourg)
20. Erwan Rodier (Rugby Club Luxembourg)
21. Bertrand Cohen-Sabban (Rugby Club Luxembourg)
22. Adrien Timmermans (Rugby Club Luxembourg)

Adapted from ‘rugbynut’ at http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4061&p=47555#p47555

Finland Squad

Andras Devenyi (Helsinki Rugby Club) DOB 13.10.1975
Thomas Finell (Helsinki Warriors)
Joakim Grader (Helsinki Warriors)
Janne Heinänen
Mikko Järvi (Tampere Rugby Club) Age 29
Aaro Katainen (Jyväskylä Rugby Club)
Mauno Konttila (Jyväskylä Rugby Club)
Antti Lammi (Jyväskylä Rugby Club)
Andrew Myrie
Juha Rainvuori (Helsinki Warriors)
Riku Ryyninen (Helsinki Warriors)
Semu Salmivalli (Turku Eagles)
Lasse Sariola (Helsinki Warriors)
Ville Siiskonen (Helsinki Rugby Club) DOB 07.11.1987
Juuso Sirén (Helsinki Warriors)
Ari Tikkanen (Jyväskylä Rugby Club)
Olli-Pekka Tuomaala (Vaasa Wolves)
Dawie van der Walt
Stephen Whittaker (Helsinki Rugby Club) DOB 19.97.1976
Vallu Valtia
Jussi Viljanen (Tampere Rugby Club) Age 19
Isaac Visser (Turku Eagles)

Adapted from http://www.facebook.com/suomenrugby/pos ... 1578468450 )