SERBIAN YOUTH FESTIVAL - GAME 1

The Serbian Youth Festival kicked off in with English-Midlands U18s 46-4 win over the spirited Junior Cedars in hot conditions at Ada Lake Stadium in the Serbian capital. The favourites dominated the opening minutes with unanswered tries from Nick Tasker and Jack Pearce in consecutive sets. The English extended their lead with fine play from Ben Wilson who crossed under the posts.

Lebanon, playing their second match at under-18 level, scored their only try in their first serious attack after 20 minutes, through Maxime Chalhoub. The rest of the half saw a balanced battle, but the English team had the final word as Tom Hughes scored his side’s fourth try and Nick Tasker added a third goal from four attempts.

In the second half the Midlands boys used their opportunities more adeptly with five more tries from Reece Needham, another one from Jack Pearce, Harry Marks and Ben Lewis, but the most cheers from the spectators went to Chris Zaric – a player with Serbian heritage, who scored after a well crafted set in the right corner. Ben Lewis took the kicking tee from man of the match Nick Tasker and scored two goals from five attempts for the final score 46-4.

ENGLISH-MIDLANDS U18
Nick Tasker, Will Cox, Alasdair McDougall-Stone, David Wilson, Jack Pearce, Harry Marks, Ben Lewis, Dan Hyams, Joe Frobisher, Myles Turner, Oliver Sankey, Adam Bromley, Reece Needham. Subs: Michael Bennett, Denham Samuels, Tom Hughes, Ryan Home, Hershall Ward, Connor Slater, Chris Zaric, Alex Heath

LEBANON U18
Ali Kanj, Jad Rizk, Andre Khoury, George Farah, Nour el Baba, Adam Dahbache, Mohamad Dachbache, George Yazbeck, Thomas Zachariou, Ayman Soultan, Maxime Chalhoub, Liam Laba, Omar Marhaba. Subs: Karl KaloustiAn, Chris Dalati, Sadec Choucaire, Khaled El Makari, Karim Tannir, Mamoun Soufan