Quick match report, by Stephen Lowe....

 
Luxembourg won 9-3 in a gritty, error strewn match.  Alexander Goodhew kicked three penalties that were enough to see off an aggressive Finnish side. 

Centre, Alan Dunn came close in a furious opening exchange.  The Finns to their credit dominated at the scrum and in the loose.  However when Luxembourg lost their stand-out player of the first half, Will Bond, coach, Marty Davis, was forced to make changes.

Nigel Sharplin tackled his heart out.  It was left to out half, Mike Minehan to boot Luxembourg out of danger.

A hard win, but one that eases the pressure going into the next match.  Final score 9-3

Luxembourg's national rugby team plays a crucial match on Saturday against Finland

In an interview with Station.lu, the team's coach, Marty Davis, explained that the match will be the start of the second round of the European Nations Cup, division 3C in which Luxembourg  currently stands.

“This is a crucial game for Luxembourg, as team that finishes last automatically gets relegated  and at the moment the two bottom teams are Finland in 5th, Luxembourg 4th” explained Davis.

The game will be held at the Josy Bartel stadium in Luxembourg on Saturday at 3pm and welcomes anyone who is interested in rugby to come and watch the game.  “The game at  Josy Bartel is an opportunity to anyone who has not seen much rugby to be able to see strength of Luxembourg”, added Davis.

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 national team”, added Davis.

The Luxembourg Rugby Federation was formed back in 1973  and the upcoming Finland match will be 78th game  for the team in European champions.