U18 EUROPEAN CUP 5/6th PLAY-OFF

In the Shield Final in Beroun, a try by David Crangle in the fourth minute of the second period of golden point extra time saw Scotland defeat Serbia 42-38 in an absolute thriller in which Serbian hooker Austen Novaković raced in for four tries.

Dragan Kranjčec’s early score for the Serbs was cancelled out by Callum MacDonald but the Eastern Europeans then raced to a big lead thanks to a double from Novaković and a touchdown from Nikša Unković, with Filip Brkić adding the goals. The Scottish revival started just before half time thanks to scores from Ashley Honeyman and John McNair, both converted by Brad Fraser to make it 24-16 at the break. Novaković continued his spree but the Scots closed to within two points thanks to a fine effort from scrum half Chad McGlame.

The Serbian rake crossed again and looked to have secured the silverware but Conar Dow had other ideas and when the Serbians were penalised in the final minute, Fraser levelled to take the match into extra time.

The jubilant Serbs thought that they had done enough when Nikola Glišić made the line but almost immediately, McGlame equalized by the posts. Moving to golden point, the Scots were rewarded for keeping the ball alive through seven pairs of hands, Crangle breaking the stalemate for the clinching score cheered on by the riveted Czech fans.

SCOTLAND U18
Ashley Honeyman, Reece Bone, Crawford Matthews, David Crangle, John McNair, Brad Fraser, Chad McGlame, Nathan Dalgado, Mark Dack, Steven McAveety, Thomas Murray, Scott Meenagh, Indio Singh. Subs: Callum MacDonald, Jamie Seery, Conar Dow, Ross Allen

SERBIA U18
Stevan Stevanović, Velibor Srećković, Dejan Hafizović, Nikola Radivojević, Nemanja Pavlica, Vojislav Dedić, Filip Brkić, Filip Jovanović, Austen Novaković, Dragan Vasiljević, Dejan Knežević, Stefan Gajić, Nikša Unković. Subs: Dragan Kranjčec, Marko Lirić, Slobodan Jovanović, Nikola Glišić