Timothy Weekes,James Parker, Joao Pereira de Faria, Jacques Prolon, Derry McCarthy, Martin Donaghy, James Stern, John Branton, Andreas Julin, Oli Hockley, Pat McManus, Alan Welby, Ian Wardle, Phil Farthing, Duncan Heald, Marc Luceri, Stephen May, Stephen Griffiths, Jorge Bulleraich, Timothy Cochrane, Dean Schweitz, Guillermo de las Casas, Derek Penning, Neil Rogers, Patrick Wegerdt, John Booth, David Becnel, Etienne Gaillat, Kenneth Milne, Chris Marrum, Marc Dutoy, James Atkins and Reuben Levermore.

May, the 18th, Helsinki Rugby Club had a date abroad, in Tallinn, Estonia, to play Brussels Barbarians. Janne's former team is on a tour over the Baltic country, decided to enjoy cheap beers and rugby. Also Sinners RFC were present in Tallinn. This time Helsinki had only 12 players, but no one knows the reasons for the lack of players. The going team took the ferry at 12 and for once, nobody was late, everybody had passports and we were all arrived in Tallinn couple of hours afterwards. The team went for a meal at Nimeta bar, the rugby HQ of Tallinn. After some communication problems (the kick off, initially planned at 5, has been set up at half past 4, and then postponed to 5h30.... until further notice!) Helsinki RFUC was really pleased to be treated as a B-team, seeing the kick off of the game postponed after the game Sinners-Brussels BaaBaas 1. And for the first time, we had to borrow some players from another team, in this case, Tallinn. Thanks to them! The first half was not the best rugby from Helsinki; Brussels scoring a first try after only 2 minutes. Needless to say that Helsinki players were not mentally ready for the game due the delay of the game, and the lack of defensive pressure was obvious. The second half was better, we saw 2 or 3 tries for the Finnish team, some good actions, and a new player impressed the whole team, showing courage when going bravely to the contact: congrats Jarno! Anyway, the Brussels Barbarians won the game by clear margin. After the game, some Helsinki players showed good Jyvaskyla rugby spirit and went home after a cold quick shower and a beer. Some others went to the hotel, had a nice warm shower, before going downtown to have a nice dinner. A friendly French company has been noticed over this dinner, and the forwards measured their chances to throw the first punches of the day! Later on, Helsinki touring team went to join Brussels Barbarians in Nimeta, everybody had good fun, dancing topless, checking that Scottish men did not wear any underwear under the kilt etc... After the night Helsinki RFUC has paid their debts in form of pints to the player who broke Mr. John "Patience" Slade's shoulder.

Mikko J. (HRC)