Saturday 16th June saw Saimaa Sharks travel to Jyväskylä to play against their 2nd team. The weather was baking hot when Saimaa arrived to Jyväskylä's ground and a good day of rugby was forecast.
Saimaa, bolstered by three young Porvoo players, were looking to improve on the mistakes from their previous match vs KRJ and headed to the pitch with optimism. The first minutes of the match, however, couldn't have gone any worse. JRC continuously exploited gaps in Saimaa's defence and by half time had raced to a 30 point lead. This wasn't helped by injuries in key positions for the Sharks, with number 12 Yki Tynkkynen (dead leg) and Fly half Ben Fisher (broken hand) having to come off in the first 20 minutes.
The second half started a bit more brightly, with JRC having a player yellow carded for a high tackle on young hooker, Jim Rif, Saimaa pushed home the advantage to score their first points of the match, John Poole crossing for the try. Unfortunately even this couldn't slow down Jyväskylä's backs and they continued to break through Saimaa's defence with ease, and despite Sharks showing some occasional attacking threat, the final score ended up 90-5 for the hosts.
Saimaa showed a lot of heart and fight on the pitch, but it couldn't bridge the vast gap in experience between the two sides on the day. The team will keep their heads up, though, and train harder and faster than before for the next fixture on 8th July vs HRC2 at Harapaisen Kenttä.