BELGRADE TROPHY FINAL

English Lionhearts (North West) were triumphant in the four-nation Belgrade Trophy for U18s, beating hosts Serbia in the final on Sunday. The English select won 46-4 at FC Radniki, with Lebanon taking third place after defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina's Vitez.

“We brought a developing team of youngsters and it was just the right tournament for them and for the region here,“ said Lionhearts tour manager Stuart Prior. “Our sport is growing and we need more countries to emerge and this kind of tournament makes us all stronger.“

Lionhearts ran in 11 tries on Friday against Vitez in the semi final and eight more in the decider, scrum half Callum Topping ending with 28 points overall and Todd Fewlon the leading try scorer, posting four.

Serbian coach Admir Hadžić noted: “When you lose you can’t be happy but if we want to progress our kids, we have to match it against better sides so it has been very valuable for us.“ 

SERBIA U18
Toplica Ristić, Dragan Ristić, Vladimir Milutinović, Stefan Arsić, Rajko Trifunović, Branko ÄŒarapić, ĐorÄ‘e Stošić, Aleksa Milković, Mihailo Ilić, Denis Bajrami, Ronaldo Bitići, Dušan Novakov, Petar Kovač. Subs: Stefan Gicić, Miloš Tasić, Boris Lazin, Stojan Dimić

ENGLISH LIONHEARTS U18
Marcus Grimshaw, Arron Oddonell, Robert Dandy, Mattew Johnson, Corey Hamer, Jake Connell, Cullum Topping, Ryan Dalton, Daniel Sturridge, Tom Hourayman, William Jones, Lewis North, Todd Fewlon. Subs: Joe Heatn, Sam Lewis, Jack Dutson, Liam Byrne