The Finland national rugby union team represents Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 at the sport of rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

. The nation has thus far not played in a Rugby World Cup

Rugby World Cup

The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987....

, but has participated in qualifying tournaments. Finland also compete in the European Nations Cup

European Nations Cup (rugby union)

The European Nations Cup is the European Championship for tier 2 and tier 3 rugby union nations. The Championship is split into 7 divisions with 5 or 6 teams in each. The divisions play on a two-year cycle with the teams playing each other both home and away...

, playing in Division 2D.

History

Finland played their first ever rugby international in 1982 against Switzerland

Switzerland national rugby union team

The Swiss national rugby union team is a member of the FIRA - Association of European Rugby and plays in the 3A division of the European Nations Cup. Thus far Switzerland have not qualified for a Rugby World Cup.-History:...

, which they lost. Finland went onto win their first international in 1991, defeating Norway 18 points to 3.

They played Monaco

Monaco national rugby union team

Monaco national rugby union team represents Monaco at rugby union. The team have been playing since the 1990s. They currently compete in Division 3D of the European Nations Cup tournament.-History:...

 in 2002. Finland's attempt to qualify for the 2007 Rugby World Cup

2007 Rugby World Cup

The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003,...

 in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 began in Round 1 of the European tournaments

2007 Rugby World Cup - European qualification

2007 Rugby World Cup - European qualification was based around the European Nations Cup, and decided which European teams participated in the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. The group stages counted towards both qualification and the European Nations Cup...

. They faced Bulgaria

Bulgaria national rugby union team

The Bulgaria national rugby union team represents Bulgaria at rugby union. They are governed by the Bulgarian Rugby Federation, and have yet to qualify for the Rugby World Cup.-History:...

 in a two match series as part of the Round 1 group to determine which nation would advance. Bulgaria won the first game 42 points to 3 in Helsinki and won the second leg 50 to 3 in Sofia to knock Finland out of the tournament.

Finland are currently bottom of the IRB World Rankings

IRB World Rankings

The IRB World Rankings is a ranking system for men's national teams in rugby union, managed by the International Rugby Board , the sport's governing body. The teams of the IRB's member nations are ranked based on their game results, with the most successful teams being ranked highest...

with a score of 27.70.

External links

• http://www.irb.com/unions/union=11000053/index.html on IRB.com
• Rugby Finland
• Finland on RugbyData.com