Montenegro will host Serbia in their third senior men’s international since becoming officially ranked. The game will take place at the FC Arsenal stadium in Tivat on Saturday 17 February (kick off 2pm, local time).

It will be the third time that the nations have met, the previous two before Montenegro gained Observer Status, Serbia winning both.

Montenegro RLF president, Igor Adzaip, commented: “This will be big test for us. Serbia is the leader in region and all nations follow their success. We will have few novice players that we will give a chance to, and we will use this match as promotion for our youth activities in Tivat, Herceg Novi and Kotor, where we plan a big promotion of rugby league in local schools.

“We have recently formed a fourth club as legal entity, RLC Jadran in Herceg Novi, and we are aiming to get fifth to apply for government recognition as a Federation by the Sport Ministry in Montenegro. We also plan to apply for affiliate membership.”