30^th July 2005 – Finland 34-12 Great Britain, Malmo, European Championship Pool A Bronze Medal match

After a wet morning in Malmo, the rain stopped an hour before kickoff in this crucial match. The last time the Brits took on the Finns, Finland had run out 34-9 winners in Helsinki in 2000.

After forcing Finland to punt, Marc Cohen made Britball history by walking out onto the field for a record 12^th cap for the Lions beating the record of 11 held by Colin Nash. An unsuccessful drive followed, and Cohen punted with Finland taking over on their own 37 yard line. Good tackling by Rowe, Roach and Hackshaw led to Finland having a 4^th and 1 from the Lions 36 yard line, and on 4^th down Paukkula ran for 19 yards and the first down. Five plays later and Paukkula ran over left guard from 3 yards out to put Finland 7-0 up. On their next drive, the Lions started at their 20. Drane completed passes of 12 yards (Simms) and 16 yards (Palumbo), and was backed up by some good running from Campbell. At 4^th and 1 from Finland’s 38 yard line, Brian Long went for it, but was stopped for no gain. On Finland’s next play Paukkula ran for 46 yards to the Lions 23, and after a roughing the passer penalty by Powell Finland completed an 8 yard pass for a TD to put them 14-0 up.

The Lions struck straight back though, with a scrambling Drane hitting Palumbo for 67 yards on their next offensive possession. Aldous’s PAT was missed and the Lions trailed 14-6. Finland extended their lead to 20-6 on their next drive, when Penkki completed a 48 yard fly pass to Palikainen. The Lions got things going on their next drive with Drane’s 27 yard screen to Campbell, and then his own 19 yard, but two penalties cost them and they were forced to punt. With three minutes left in the half, Finland put the game out of the Lions reach with a 4^th TD of the half, on Penkki’s 5 yard pass to Myohanen. This put Finland 27-6 up at half-time.

RB Kofi Campbell. Photo by Andreas Gebek


WR Clive Palumbo

With the Brits struggling to move the ball on the ground, Drane came out passing in the second half, but on their next possession he was picked off at Finland’s 30. The teams traded punts with Glasgow’s Ryan Hunter performing well on defense in particular. Finland stretched their lead to 34-6 though on a 9 play 77 yard drive culminating in Paukkula’s 5 yard run up the middle. Drane continued the passing theme on the Lions next drive with 3 passes to Palumbo, 2 to Campbell and one each to Simms and Cohen as the Lions drove down to Finland’s 9, but on 4^th down, Drane was sacked and the ball was turned over on downs.

After a Finland punt, GB got the ball in excellent field position at Finland’s 31 yard line after a 14 yard return by Simms and aided by a personal foul penalty. Drane was intercepted by Winqvist who subsequently fumbled and was recovered by Drane. After a 9 yard pass to Palumbo, Campbell made no mistake from 13 yards out as he ran over right tackle to make the score 34-12 with 4 minutes left in the half.

That was the end of the scoring. On the statistics front QB David Drane threw for 270 yards, with MVP Clive Palumbo catching 8 passes for 141 yards. Finland outgained GB 428 yards to 311. Paukkula ran for 138 yards and 2 TDs on just 18 carries.

For statistics of this game click here

GB Squad for 2005 European Championships

QB David Drane (London Olympians), Neil Canning (Birmingham Bulls)
RB Kofi Campbell (Birmingham Bulls), Stewart Muir (Kent Exiles), Steve Coles (Coventry Jets), Marc Saunders (PA Knights), Chris Taylor (Bristol Aztecs)
WR Mark Squire (West Coast Trojans), Mark Cohen (Coventry Jets), Jeremy Simms, Clive Palumbo, Tam Bryne (all London Olympians), Joe Black (Birmingham Bulls), Duncan Aldous (London Blitz), Rodney Egerton (Farnham Knights)
TE Adam Newman (Oxford Saints), Philip Scales (Cologne Falcons)
OL David Carpenter, Mark Lockwood, Kevin Keohane (all Farnham Knights), Peter Jones, Rob Hardy, Steve Hopkins, Charlie Wilson (both Bristol Aztecs), Matthew.Meyer (London Olympians/Hertfordshire Hurricanes), Rab Beveridge (Clyde Valley Hawks)
DL Bernie Hackshaw, Saul Freer (Coventry Jets), Brian Long (Doncaster Mustangs), Peter Fields, Gavin Collins (Farnham Knights), Sean Hopkins (Bristol Aztecs), ,
LB Paul Newey (Coventry Jets), Brendan Cunnane (Birmingham Bulls), Craig Pennington, Craig McDowell (both ASAP Yorkshire Rams), Dale Powell (Southern Sundevils), Ryan Hunter (Glasgow Tigers), Tom Proctor (Bristol Aztecs)
DB James Brazier (Berlin Adler), Wes Roach, Scott Rowe (both London Olympians), Ahmed Hashim (Birmingham Bulls), Simon Kockelbergh (Farnham Knights), Dale Smart (Sussex Thunder)
K Duncan Aldous (London Blitz)
P Mark Cohen (Coventry Jets)