France prepare to play Serbia in St Esteve on Friday in a match that pits 14th in the RLIF world rankings against 5th. The Serbians, fresh from their rousing European Championship B victory against Russia in Belgrade on Saturday, are one of international rugby league’s form sides, having won four of their last five outings, including comfortable wins against Ukraine and Italy.
The French team, which assembled in Argelès-sur-Mer, next to Perpignan on Wednesday, is in a good frame of mind, according to France A coach Renaud Guigue, who is a member of France’s high performance department.
“We’ve got a tight-knit group with a good mentality,” said the Avignon coach. “The players are behaving more and more professionally which is important for the match against Serbia and leading up to the world cup in two years.”
France has played Serbia twice before, beating them 120-0 in the 2003 Mediterranean Cup then leading 14-6 before a blackout halted proceedings in the 2004 edition of the Lebanon-held competition.
“I think our strength will be our defensive organisation,” continued Guigue, “but our greatest error would be to take the Serbians lightly. We’ll have to play right, applying ourselves without over playing.”~
Serbia, who will be without inspirational captain Dalibor Vukanovic, next play in Gemona on 20 June when they will be seeking to retain top spot in European Championship B. Third placed Italy will leap-frog Russia and Serbia with a 25-point victory. France plays in the European Championship in October and November.
Pictured: France prepare in Palau.