Erik Lund who plays top level rugby in Biarritz (BO) is the best Norwegian rugby embasador in France, but he is not the only one.
Focus on Elisabeth Berg-Lohre, Cathinka Walberg and Erick Salvesen.
Elisabeth and Cathinka are amongst the most promising players of the national women 7s side, and Erick played for the U19 national side.

They all moved to France to study.

Elisabeth Berg-Lohre

Since January 2011, Elisabeth is studying medecin for 6 months in Rennes (Britany). The "Stade Rennais" is one of the best womens club in France, playing in the TOP10, and having 3 players in the French national team.

Elisabeth is not eligible for the 1st team as she moved to France in the middle of the rugby season, but she can play with the B-team. The B-team is playing in the French 3rd national level. Elisabeth is quite happy of this experience: “We have 3 coaches at every training, and more than 20 girls each time. We can thus play real games at trainings. It is a big change from what I was used to in Norway”, and having the chance to train with top international players is certainly a great experience for her.

Elisabeth played her first official game on the 20th of February in Rennes against Brest. She was in the starting line-up. She played winger and center, and scored a try. “It was a great game” said Elisabeth. “I still need to know better the way the team is playing, but scoring a try for my first game here was simply great”.

Elisabeth Berg-Lohre, Red number 11

Cathinka Walberg

For the last 3 years, Cathinka has been studying engineering at INSA in Toulouse. She is playing in the school rugby team as she has not enough time to play in a club: “I tried to play with St Orens RC 2 years ago, but it was not possible to both study and play rugby. St Orens is one of the top teams in France, and it requires to be commited to all trainings. I was impressed by the level of profesionalism of the girls, two of them are actually now playing in the French national team”, said Cathinka.

When she moved to France, she was impressed by how rugby is popular down there compare to what she is used to in Norway. “If you don’t know what to talk about, just talk about rugby with people. It is the biggest sport in the school (four 15s men teams, and two 7s women teams), and it is the biggest sport in the city, Stade Toulousain being the best club in Europe”, said Cathinka, “in south-west France, rugby is a way of life, there are lots of tradition involved, it is very helpful to create a friends network and even a business network”. It looks like rugby is not just a sport in France, but also a very important thing in every days life.

Cathinka Walberg

Erick Salvesen

Erick is studying in University of La Rochelle on the west coast of France. He plays for the U19 team of RC Puilboreau. This club has a well-known rugby academie, and has always had very good youth teams. The senior team is playing in the 4th national level in France.

Erick have been named “The Charentais Viking” due to his Norwegian origin and La Rochelle being located in Charente-Maritime. “Erick has a great spirit” said Fabien Delaguila, technical director at RC Puilboreau, “he shows the true rugby values, he has improved a lot since he arrived. He is now one of the key players in the U19 team, and he is always leading his mates on the pitch”.

Erick, first in blue on the left

For sure, Oslo RK (for Elisabeth), NTNUi (for Cathinka) and Bergen RK (for Eirick) will be glad to see them back after such a great rugby experience. They will have improved a lot, and learned more about rugby, in one of the biggest rugby nation in the world.