We’re flying to Lisbon for the 2nd round of the EM and the last tournament of our season.

We were all taking different routes, I flew via Stockholm… it’s the start of the Norwegian holidays, the planes to Southern Europe are quite full! So we all met at an appartment where we are staying tonight, downtown Lisbon, had pasta for diner.

It’s been a nice season. We started in Oslo in February, went to Finland in March, met again in Oslo and in Malmø in April, in Horten, Nancy and Bergen in May. Not to mention that we had 9 of the players with us last year. For a coach, it’s awesome to work with such continuity and depth, and such a great group of players.

About our opponents for the weekend… We’re in the toughest pool: the winners Germany, who seem out of touch; Portugal who probably are very disappointed after the first round – with their 7s place, they have practically lost all chances to make it to the top 2. One of the few scenarios would require them to win the tournament, Germany to finish 2nd, Norway 3rd, Finland 4th, Sweden 5th, Czech Republic 6th and Romania 7th. In that specific order. They have certainly done the math, they have a large player base, they are competitors who will be inspired by the fact that they play on their home ground and by the odds being against them. I also expect them to pick a much more experienced side this time instead of the young, development side they had in Hungary. We play them in the first game, we can expect fury!

As for Israel, we struggled against them in Hungary… Saturday is gonna be a tough day.

On the other hand, we also are competitors, we like being the underdogs, we like proving everyone wrong.