Hello to the Warriors faithful, its that time of year again, the rugby season got of to a flying start on saturday with both Warriors first XV and second XV in action in what can only be described as an awesome day of rugby for everyone who was involved.
The sun was blazing, and the crowd was pumped as Warriors Rugby Club lined up against Helsinki rugby club for the opening game of the 2009 finnish championship.
Steve thorne refereeing.
The first whistle of the first game blows and the Warriors are off, within 3 mins Captain T.Finell collects the ball from the full back position and steps confidently past three HRC players to score close to the posts for the first try of the season, comfortably kicking the conversion by means of dropkick to make the score 7-0, game on.
After the try came a battle for pitch position with some good kicking from both sides, with no-one really getting an advantage, after a few knock ons come the first scrums of the game, and WRC are bullying the HRC pack disrupting and turning the scrums very well.
When HRC had possesion the WRC defence were up in one solid line and making every tackle count, forcing mistakes from the boys in blue.
Then comes a moment of worry when HRC get a lineout within the WRC 22 meter line, HRC won the lineout but couldnt keep their composure to create any real threat and end up 20 meters back down the pitch, and their goes the best chance for HRC so far.
Warriors defence is working as one unit all the time and when HRC put together an attack the pressure is too much and WRC come away with a penalty, the ball is kicked into touch inside the HRC half and ref calls for a water break on the 20 min mark. After the water break the restart is a warriors lineout, it is confidently taken and the resulting move tears the HRC defence apart a nice loop from Lauri around the back of the centres and collects after the full back draws in the defenders and WRC have scored try number two, with a very well taken angled conversion by T. Finell to make score 14-0.
With WRC up by two tries and two kicks you can see a sense of confidence rush through the team and WRC start to pile on the pressure and camp out in the HRC 22. HRC gain possesion only to gift the Warriors a scrum close to the try line, WRC no 8 Lasse.S picks up at the back of the scrum goes blind and forces his way over for try number three, kick is missed and the score is now 19-0 with no reply. After the restart WRC made an error which was one of very few on the day and gift HRC with a scrum and maybe some possesion, fortunaltey this was not the case and a huge push from the WRC pack and they have won one against the head and come away with the ball, the resulting play ended up in touch for a HRC lineout, once again the throw in was not straight and Warriors take a scrum, and the resulting play ends up with a penalty to HRC, desperate for points they decide to kick for goal and the kick goes wide and HRC are still searching for points.
From the restart WRC get going immediatly and a high tackle from HRC gives Warriors a penalty, the tap is taken quickly and some clever chip kicks from T.Finell almost results in a try, instead HRC have a 22 dropout and once again survive another Warriors onslaught, ball is kicked back to the boys in black and gold who straight away start to pile on the pressure and HRC are looking a little bit lost and gift the Warriors with another penalty within kicking range, the Captain chooses to kick for goal and its good, the kick makes the score 22-0.
Shortly after HRC get a rare penalty and it is wasted when two WRC players make a huge 2 on 1 hit, resulting in a turnover, the game slows down and soon after the half time whistle blows. 22-0 half time.
After half time HRC came out with nothing to lose and so it showed, Seb off for HRC with a yellow card after punching one of the Warriors boys in clear view of the ref, 15 against 14, and somehow against the run of the game HRC got on the scoreboard after a tapped penalty and in the aftermath the WRC captain T.Finell and the HRC prop are both given yellow cards, HRC converted the kick and the score is 22-7.
Possesion was starting to change hands a lot in the blazing heat with nothing really materializing for either side although during this period the WRC boys start putting in some great hits in defence never really slowing down. The first break in play comes with HRC breaking towards the Warriors line but after a huge dump tackle 5 meters out by "BIG" Vallu the move is held up on the line, WRC scrum won easily and cleared to touch to ease the pressure, from the resulting lineout HRC get possesion and attempt to kick clear but a bit of skill followed by a liitle luck allows WRC hooker J.Vilen to charge down the kick and catch the ball from the bounce to break clear and score, with another successful conversion the score sits comfortbly at 29-7.
possesion is changing hands and stoppages for scrums slows the game down slightly but with another great break from WRC the ball goes out wide but gets knocked on, chance missed for the Warriors, shortly after WRC get a penalty for hands in the ruck and the ball is spun out wide debut 1st xv winger Janne to run it into the corner to claim another 5 points for the team in balck and gold, kick missed and the score is 34-7 and the writing is on the wall for HRC now. The game restarts and soon after comes some superb aggressive rucking from "The Beast" P.Dolan and centre V.Valtia comes away from the ruck with a turned over ball, after 3 phases and a nice hand off by T.Finell results in another try from the back of a very great piece of team play, conversion is made and the score is 41-7.
Once again possesion switches hands a lot and there is a lot of kicking and chasing, and eventually HRC a pinned back inside their own 22, with the pressure getting to HRC Seb finds himself with another yellow card, thats 2 bookable offences for him now and its a red card he's off, and once again the ball finds itself gliding through the Warriors backline into the hands of Janne who gets his second of the day and what a wonderful debut he's had, T.Finell converts and puts the score up to 48-7, what a great kicking performance from the captain also, with 3 mins to go Lauri gets yellow carded for a high tackle and sits the rest of the game out, ball is loose and T.Finell ends the game by kicking the ball out of the pitch. Full time 48-7
Afterwards WRC 2nd XV played in the finnish cup and were slow to start with a defeat at the hands of a very strong Lahti team but went on to win against Rauma Ice Pack and HRC 2nd XV, special mentions go out to Paulo De Tarso for scoring his first try in a warriors shirt, to Janne for his step up to the first team, to Andre Parisi for his call up to the first team and to "BIG" Jussi.K for his call up also.
Thanks to everyone who played and helped out, the day was a huge success for everyone, lets hope this is built upon as the season goes on.
Matt Jordan.
