Interestingly we had just updated our profile on the finish captain who spent a couple of seasons with us and days later he announced his retirement after next Saturdays international.

We outline his profile/story and add his announcement

Kiitos Jussi

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Jussi Viljanen     AIL No. #343

 

 

They say that rugby is a religion in New Zealand, Jussi from Orivesi in Finland, came to rugby because of religion. Jussi was playing ice hockey and football, but when he was attending a Christian camp as a teenager, a mentor there told him all about rugby. He decided he wanted to give in a try and convinced a couple of friends to join him and go to Tempere about 40km’s away.

He was only 15 and he played his first game in an adult team, his next game he played scrum half and scored 3 tries. This came to the attention of the Finnish Federation, and they insisted he could not play adult rugby for a further 18 months, until he was 17.

At the age of 18 he earned his first cap for Finland in 2011 against Bulgaria.

His first overseas venture was joining Old Dartfordians in southeast London, the Head Coach had been the Finnish Head Coach.

Christchurch   university of Canterbury club missed internationals, came back and made captain.

That led to a 2nd trip, this time to Christchurch where he played for University of Canterbury. Finland was averaging 4 games a season, but while in New Zealand Jussi was not available for international duty. When he returned to Finland, he was appointed captain of both the 15 & 7’s sides.

Jussi came to Cork in autumn 2018 and made his Dolphin AIL debut in January 2019. He went on to make 20 AIL appearances, scoring 3 tries before he returned home to Finland in March 2020. When asked about the standard of Division 2A, he said it was par with, if not higher than the standard at international level.

In April 2026 he is still appearing for Finland (who are 75th in the World) and has made 42 appearances in the 15’s game.

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Hello all,

I’m writing to you today to announce that I’ve decided to retire from Rugby and this week I will be playing my last game.

Rugby has such a special place in my heart. The game of Rugby has given me almost my entire life. It has taken me and my family to so many places around the world, brought me life-long friends, memories and life experiences that I would certainly not have had without it.

Rugby has helped shape me into who I am today. It has given me the opportunity to live out the dreams of a little boy who enjoyed sports so much. For me, Rugby has been so much more than just a game.

But now, the time feels right. As life goes along, new things come up, new opportunities, new responsibilities, and priorities.

There are so many people I would like to thank, but they would never fit into one message. So I would like to simply express my gratitude to everyone who has been with me on this journey and supported me. My family, teammates, coaches, management, physios, supporters, all of you.

I have had the privilege to play this great game for many great clubs around the world. On top of all of this, I have had the incredible honour to represent my country and play for the National Team for a number of years, both in 15’s and 7’s. Words are not enough to describe the amount of pride and joy I feel for being part of these teams and communities.

I’m getting my one last opportunity to wear the National Team jersey this week, as we face Luxemburg in Vantaa on Saturday 9th of May at 15:00.

I wish I can see as many of you as possible there supporting us!

Once again, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Kiitos.

Yours in Rugby,
Jussi Viljanen

Tampere Rugby Club
Kuopio Rugby Club
Dartfordians RFC
University of Canterbury RFC
Dolphin RFC