ENGLAND v The Netherlands

Score by quarters: 7-1 / 2-1 / 1-2 / 4-0   

Final score: 14 – 4

England wrapped up an impressive overall showing at the 2008 European Championships with a convincing 14-4 victory in the final game against The Netherlands. This completed an 8 game unbeaten campaign, in which England scored a total of 179 goals and conceding just 23. They played 32 quarters of lacrosse, winning 29 and losing only 3 of them. Team England – well deserved men’s lacrosse champions of Europe.

Coach Collier commented: “ Winning the Championship is a fantastic achievement for all concerned, and is just reward for all the hard work our boys have put into their preparations for this tournament. We had the best team, and the best players. Most satisfying for the coaching staff was the fact that we delivered a consistently high level of performance throughout the tournament.  

Some critics may say that the standard of competition is not challenging enough for England at the European level, let me put them straight – the quality of the opposition continues to improve, the range of styles and number of credible opponents continues to grow. The rapid advance of Finland as a team is a good example of that. 

In the final we faced The Netherlands, part of this new wave of European growth, and surprise conquerors of Germany in their semi final game. Formed around a strong core of US based players, but well supported by some home grown freaky deaky Dutch boys. 

The game was over as a contest after a sensational performance by our team in the first 20 minutes. This was the coming together of everything we had practised, a perfect execution of our game plan with all parts of the team firing on all cylinders. Special teams bossing face off possession, outstanding individual and team defence, athletic and crafty midfield play, crisp confident attack play. Ball movement. Player movement. Extra pass. Picking corners.  

The cherry on the icing came when Captain Tom Williamson swept up a loose ground ball on our restraining line, used his outstanding speed to accelerate between the riding midfielders, and then rifled a shot past the shell shocked Dutch goalkeeper. Sweet.

In the 2^nd quarter all credit to the Netherlands team who rallied as our intensity lowered, and thereafter the game was much closer, England scoring a further 7 goals with just 3 against.  

On the final whistle I was showered with ice from the team water bucket, and as we danced the merry jig of champions we could all reflect on the satisfaction of a job well done. The support of Matt Nugent and Rachel Lazenby as Physio and as Trainer has been invaluable and saw us reach the final game (our 8^th game in 10 days) with all players still fit and ready to play. Tour Manager Ravi “Baggie” Sitlani has made telling contributions in all kinds of areas from scouting the Netherlands team to organising the pizzas. A real team effort. 

Now for Coach Elwood and myself it is time for a period of reflection. We must identify the key learning points from the whole experience that can help us to further develop the players and our team as we build towards our next major competition, the Manchester 2010 FIL World Championships.   

European Champions. Lahti. Tour de Finland. What a ride!”