First up is the confrontation between the League winners Hammarby and the team that finished 4th in the Elite, Spartacus. The visitors are obviously favourites and they will argue that they play a similar style to their more illustrious neighbour's Stockholm Exiles. With the weather forecast not looking too good (and reportedly there has been a lot of rain in the West this week), this could be a day for keeping it simple and not over elaborating. Consequently this could suit the hosts as they have the forwards that appear to relish this type of rugby. This will not be a easy match for Hammarby as Spartacus have a good defensive record at home but they will surely expect to win this game to take a lead into the second match. If both teams are at full strength then we believe Hammarby will gain the win after a a hard fought contest.
Stockholm Exiles make the short journey to Enkoping hoping for a repeat of the recent match between the two sides where the visitors ran away with the game. Enkoping though have improved dramatically since then and will be determined not to suffer another humiliation. Both teams have some exciting backs and anyone of them could be a match winner on the day. So whatever the weather the result will probably depend on who has the forward superiority, that appears to be Exiles, just. Whatever happens this should be a great match to watch and we take the visitors to have one foot in the final at the end of the match.
Two contrasting matches but both with the opportunity to show some great rugby, so it should be a good day for the spectators to watch the countries top 4 teams in action and to see how well Swedish rugby is progressing. Good luck to all four teams.
I am honoured to be the Head Coach of Hammarby and I have been reading your blog for the past few months. A lot has been said about my club and about most times I just laugh - like the story about me being offered big money to go back and coach Exiles. I'm sorry but Hammarby have taught me so much about grass roots rugby and what it means to play for your team mates and nothing else, that I could never leave this club no matter what I was offered.
ReplyDeleteI thank you for taking the time to write this blog and hope that everyone reads it and is interested enough in Swedish Rugby to come out to games on Saturdays and support a great game in a great country. There are truly some wonderful athletes involved in rugby around Sweden and they are to all be congratulated for what they do each week. It is not easy to be away from home two nights per week and then on Saturdays playing a game that nobody in your country has heard of and is not really supported financially by its governing body.
There is so much potential for rugby to grow within Sweden but so many changes need to take place otherwise the interest in rugby which the ladies have been able to gather will just dwindle. It breaks my heart to see such fundamental foundations not in place to ensure the development of rugby within Sweden, but that's for another blog.
Hammarby play our own style of rugby. A style which we have developed over the length of the season to cater for our team. It was always difficult finishing halfway through the season knowing we would League Winners. A lot has been said about us being down on form this half, unfortunately for the other three teams left in the competition that is far away from the truth.
This half of the season we have been giving everyone within our club game time within the First team. A club is built around the strength of every member of it, not just the top 15. I have rewarded players that turn up each and every training session with playing time in the Firsts. We have used close to forty players in the second half of the season and built a wonderful club culture rather than a strong First 15.
Spartacus are to be congratulated on making the finals on a similar budget to Hammarby - nothing. We respect Spartacus and are taking them very seriously and know that we will have to play our very best rugby to win down there on Saturday.
I would like to encourage everyone to get out and watch one of the games this Saturday and enjoy the wonderful skills that Swedish players exhibit.
Chris Richards
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ReplyDeletewell considering you finish tied in the top with a worst points for/against average...you didnt do bad, but well, at the end of the season we´ll see if your words make sense or you are just full of...
ReplyDeletein any case, dont use the word respect when you have proven many times that you dont respect oposition players, but wait, you will...
It will be funny to see if Paul Mathews plays on Saturday. Spartacus claims that he has played in two of the B-team games during the season. One of the games (home against Karlstad) must have been on crutches. It,s good then that we have people who was there on the 4:th of July to tell the Union that he didn,t play that day.
ReplyDeleteSpartacus must have mixed up the games because they can,t be trying to cheat?
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ReplyDeleteThere appears to be a bit of a crusade going on against the Hammarby coach. We have decided that we do not want to be a vehicle for any personal attacks and have decided to remove the appropriate comments.
ReplyDeleteBy we I assume you mean Gothenburg players and Neil Johnston.
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