U19 Euro Cup

[langpark]

http://www.rlef.eu.com/news/article/1365/rlef-recommends-re-launching-european-youth


I don't know about you guys, but this excites me about 10 times more than an Emerging nations Cup! Now, assuming England are excluded, how many European countries are capable of fielding an U18 side?

Ireland, Wales, France, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia I think are the fairly certain ones. I wonder if they might go for 8 teams though? I guess the other ones possible looking to enter would be Czech, Italy, Scotland. Are there any others?

 

[langpark]

Actually, France are just about on par with the English juniors, based on their results over the last few years. I wonder if they might both be in, or both be excluded perhaps. Same could possibly be said for Wales. Or maybe they will do a Group A and Group B format.

 

[Evil Homer]

IIRC last time they did this England was always represented by a rep team from a development area, usually the Midlands. Great to see this returning BTW.

 

[jim_57]

Excellent.

I've been saying for a while the best investment the RLIF, RLEF, APRLC etc could make long term would be a thorough junior international program. Kids from developing nations are more likely to be snapped up by professional clubs at the age of 16-20 with potential to learn and grow in a professional system. Not many mature age signings make it these days.

 

[deal.with.it]

Great! Follows on from my enwc post

 

[PaulyTom]

http://www.rlef.eu.com/news/article/1365/rlef-recommends-re-launching-european-youth


I don't know about you guys, but this excites me about 10 times more than an Emerging nations Cup! Now, assuming England are excluded, how many European countries are capable of fielding an U18 side?

Ireland, Wales, France, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia I think are the fairly certain ones. I wonder if they might go for 8 teams though? I guess the other ones possible looking to enter would be Czech, Italy, Scotland. Are there any others?

Great idea.

 

[langpark]

Looks like Norway are planning on being a part of this too!

NORWAY ANNOUNCES HISTORIC FIRST YOUTH INTERNATIONAL

In a first for rugby league in the country, Norge RL has announced its inaugural youth international, their U19s set to face Serbia U18s on 7 May, in Nannestad, 60km north of Oslo.

Joshua Skidmore-Hornby, head coach of the Norwegian side commented: “We are very excited, and it is with great gratitude to Serbia for coming over, that this dream has become a reality. We have been slowly building towards this with several youth camps over the last few years.

“We will now put our boys to the test against a well-established team. Regardless of the result, the experience for the boys involved will be extremely valuable for our future development. However, we are expecting the Viking blood running through the veins of these young warriors to be at the fore.”

RLN official Kim Seglem added: “We are all looking forward to this, we have more youth involved than ever. Last year we saw several youngsters step up and begin playing open age rugby league. The future looks bright for RLN. Some clubs are working on having U19 teams playing curtain-raisers to the domestic competition.”

The Serbians are also breaking new ground, playing their first international fixture in Scandinavia. “This event shows that our sport is growing and we put a lot of our effort into being a part of it and making new connections,” said Serbia RL general manager Slobodan Manak.

“RLN are making us welcome and our boys can't wait to go there and meet new opponents. I hope that this is going to be just the start of co-operation between the nations and that we will meet more often in the future.”

Source:

 

[langpark]

Can someone please edit the title to U19 instead of U18?

 

[Evil Homer]

They've really announced this 10 months in advance?

 

[langpark]

Fantastic isn't it? Gives them every chance of landing a decent sponsor and, who knows, maybe even a broadcast deal?

 

[The Partisan]

On my radar for next years European holiday. Contacted the Australian Serbian RL guys for some networking. Few Aussie boys to be in the Serbian squad.

 

[langpark]

Bulgaria vs Serbia U19 tomorrow in Sofia. I'm impressed Bulgaria are already fielding an U19 side. They will surely all be from union, but it's a start. Hopefully they enjoy League and want to play more.

 

[yakstorm]

Unsurprisingly by the RLEF re-instating the U19s Championship, we are seeing an increase in the number of U19s teams formed and playing games.

Already Italy has played a French U19s team, as LP said, Serbia is playing Bulgaria and will play Italy later on.

There are more games being organised as well with Ukraine chasing a game before their qualifier against Italy.

Really positive addition to the RL calendar, and encourages nations to look beyond just running open age competitions.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Does it seem odd that Serbia only beat Bulgaria by a try?

Shouldn't they have lapped them?

 

[deluded pom?]

Does it seem odd that Serbia only beat Bulgaria by a try?

Shouldn't they have lapped them?

You’d think so. Surely the Serbian team was made up of players who have played the game at junior level? What score was it?

 

[East Coast Tiger]

You’d think so. Surely the Serbian team was made up of players who have played the game at junior level? What score was it?

26-20

Even away from home, even if the conditions were poor (I don't think they were) and even if Serbia had some of their best players missing (I don't know if they did) you'd think Serbia's experience would see them win comfortably. Maybe they sent a younger team or a weakened one, but I'd still expect them to beat a bunch of novices well.

 

[langpark]

Very encouraging result for the Bulgarians! Very worrying result for Serbia. Their first match in the tournament is against England, they need dramatic improvement between now and then.

 

[The Partisan]

I'd say the heritage players will be heavily involved in the opening game v England. Re this result, who knows how good Bulgaria were prepared? Canada's Women's team did pretty well as novices.

 

[deluded pom?]

I'd say the heritage players will be heavily involved in the opening game v England. Re this result, who knows how good Bulgaria were prepared? Canada's Women's team did pretty well as novices.

What heritage players do Serbia have at U19s?

 

[The Partisan]

What heritage players do Serbia have at U19s?

Going by the Serbian Australia RL FB page they have quite a few. Believe 6 - 8 headed over in August.