The 2018 rugby season ended in a disappointing defeat for HRC, as the men’s championship final in Kuopio ended in a 37–21 (29–14) win for the local rivals Warriors.
The final was expected to be a thriller, but it was anything but a spectacle. Unfortunately for HRC, the match followed the script of the season’s earlier meetings. Relying on their forwards’ pick-and-gos, the Warriors dictated the pace and penalties started to pile up against HRC early on. Steady waves of forward play and precise set pieces brought the Warriors four tries and a winning lead already in the first half. For the Big Guns the first half was a fight for survival, tackle after tackle, with only brief moments of their own game.
Without two moments of brilliance, the fight for the title would have been over after the first 40 minutes. With the Warriors leading 14–0, centre Dario Forneris read and intercepted a pass and sprinted 70 metres to score. HRC’s second try of the half came from lock Ville Siiskonen, who charged down Warriors flyhalf Tumppi Finell’s clearance kick and was first to the loose ball in the in-goal. It came from the Big Guns’ only real visit to the Warriors’ 22-metre area.
The second half started much brighter, and HRC took the initiative in the opening minutes. The good spell ended quickly when hooker Paulo Pannuzzo was shown a yellow card after a referees’ consultation. The old order returned, and the Warriors scored their fifth try with a numerical advantage to lead 34–14.
To the Big Guns’ credit, the team kept trying even when the situation was nearly hopeless. Too many promising attacks came to nothing with knock-ons at critical moments, and HRC only managed to put real pressure on the Warriors’ end in the last ten minutes, by which time the game was decided. Front-row battering ram Chris Denholm, who played the full match, had the honour of scoring the season’s last try with five minutes remaining. Joonas Bask’s third successful conversion sealed the final score of 21–37.
Penalties cost HRC again
The Big Guns were far from victory, which is no wonder, as almost nothing in the game plan worked. In the critical first half HRC could neither avoid penalties nor force the Warriors to infringe: twelve penalties were given against HRC and none against the Warriors, which is remarkable in a game between two fairly even sides. The flowing attacking play seen so often during the season was missing, as the Warriors set the tempo.
– Congratulations to the Warriors. They were disciplined in what they were trying to do and got the victory as a result. We managed to put pressure on them a couple of times, which brought our tries, but unfortunately we couldn’t keep the ball for long enough periods, said HRC’s player-coach Jake Pratley.
Reaching the final was a great achievement for the Big Guns, but the way the final was lost leaves a lot to think about over the long winter. Even so, the team has clearly moved forward.
– This season has been a great journey with many positives, and everyone can be proud of the effort shown throughout the season to play a good brand of rugby. The progress made with both the Big Guns and the Blue Tigers has laid the foundations for bigger and better seasons in the future, Pratley believes.
Two years later, in 2020, the Big Guns beat the Warriors in the final and won the Finnish championship.
Men’s championship final: Warriors–HRC 37–21 (29–14)
Tries: Dario Forneris, Ville Siiskonen and Chris Denholm. Conversions: Joonas Bask (3). Yellow card: Paulo Pannuzzo.
Line-up: 1 Ville Vikman, 2 Paulo Pannuzzo, 3 Chris Denholm, 4 Wertti Bask, 5 Ville Siiskonen, 6 Antti Järvenpää, 7 Iikka Ahlfors, 8 David O’Connor, 9 Mikko Moilanen, 10 Bam Hennessy, 11 Joonas Bask, 12 Paavo Honkanen, 13 Dario Forneris, 14 Mika Takala, 15 Ronan Rochford. Substitutes: Iivari Komsi, Emmanuel Courbin, Samuel Kuutti, Jesperi Virtanen, Ilja Prohorov, Luke Parsons, Riku Lempiö and Anton Nevalainen.
Text: Mika Huopainen
