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Playing for club and country

Erik Mårtensson
4th Year, Engineering

Erik Mårtensson took up Rugby at eight years old and has captained his country (Sweden) at U18 level. He talks to us about the pride of playing for his national team and his club.

Enjoying the game

“I started playing rugby when I was eight years old back in Sweden after trying out an array of different sports. Although rugby is not very popular in Sweden there was a very successful club in my city that had always drawn a lot of attention. I played on and off during the next few years but didn’t really hit my stride until puberty came along and made me a bit more athletic.

I played underwater hockey for several years and was incidentally called up for the junior national team at the same time as I was called up for the U16 Rugby National Team as well, at which point I chose rugby simply because I enjoyed it more.”

The pride of playing for your country

“My greatest rugby memory to date would be my senior debut for Sweden, against the Netherlands in Amsterdam. I was lucky enough to play all throughout the Swedish junior ranks and at senior level as well as captaining the U18 in the European Championship. Despite Sweden not being the biggest rugby playing nation, nothing compares to the honour and pride of running out in the colours and representing your country. Comparing it to Varsity is tough simply because of the rivalry between us and St Andrews, and the atmosphere at Murrayfield with over 10000 spectators is pretty hard to beat.”

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