BALKANS CHAMPIONSHIP - GAME 1

Serbia routed their way to inaugural Balkans Championship final with 9-try win over visitors Hungary at national champions Dorćol's stadium. The tournament hosts' head coach Marko Janković handed chances to 13 debutants in the first ever full international match between the neighbouring nations.

Red Star prop forward Slobodan Manak scored the brace in opening ten minutes, followed by Stefan Nikolić, who extended the lead after quarter of an hour. Full back Milan Ilić got on the scoreboard for the first time on 19th minute. One of the only four capped players in the lineup, Nikolić marked the come back to national team with another try on 23th minute.

Five minutes later, winger Aleksandar Radovanović crossed after solo effort and Milan ÄŒobanović added the last try of the first half. It took seven minutes of the second half for Ilić to score his second try. Captain Vladislav Dedić spoiled his perfect record from the first half.  In the next half an hour, Hungary's performance was improving, but Serbian defence was unsolvable puzzle for the “Bulls”. Serbia reached half-century three minutes before the final whistle, when Djordje Gak posted final score as Dedić missed for the second time from nine kicks.

Serbian head coach Janković turns his mind to the final game: “After three official matches and five warm-up or trial games, we finally had the chance to hand full international caps for many players who already experienced a taste of international rugby at various junior or student ranks. I’m completely satisfied with the first half and even in the second half our defence was consistent and brave. I will rely on some of these boys for the final game as we lost our captain (Vukanović) due to injury (against Italy), while Nikolić and Ćalić are overseas.

"We now look for another test, which should be a more serious one. It is always interesting to play against teams which have players from the nation where rugby league is the most popular sport. As we always repeat, our task is to show that development based on domestic players is hard but feasible and that we can be competitive. The game against Greece will be very tough, they are good and ambitious team and they are great opportunity for us to see where we are at the moment.”

SERBIA
Milan Ilić, Aleksandar Radovanović, Filip Stošić, Aleksa Radić, Djordje Gak, Stefan Nikolić, Vladislav Dedić, Slobodan Manak, Djordje Stošić, Vlado Kušić, Milan ÄŒobanović, Marko Ćuk, Petar Milanović. Subs: Miloš Kostadinović, Ivan Ivanović, Nikola Djurić, Vuk Štrbac

HUNGARY
Gábor Szabó, Gergely Kolozsvári, Áron Krepsz, István Czicze, Benjamin Illési, Zoltán Solti, Benjamin Antal, Norbert Csapkai, Gyula Herpai, Sándor Lakatos, Zsolt Lukacs, Richárd Iker, Viktor Zelenka. Subs:  Lénárd Grimm, Marko Nikowitz, Ádám Csiri, István Tóth