Serbia
50
20
Bulgaria
Half-time
Serbia: 14
Bulgaria: 16
Tries
Serbia:
  • Dragan Jankovic (14),
  • Mihajlo Jovic (15),
  • Aleksandar Pavlovic (38),
  • Dragan Jankovic (46),
  • Denis Bajrami (50),
  • Denis Bajrami (55),
  • Tihomir Stamenkovic (58),
  • Mihaijlo Ilic (70),
  • Tihomir Stamenkovic (79)
Bulgaria:
  • Martin Hristov (11),
  • Antonio Lubenov (18),
  • Antonio Lubenov (34),
  • Antonio Lubenov (66)
Goals
Serbia:
  • Branko Carapic (0/1),
  • Stefan Vukanovic (7/8)
Bulgaria:
  • Veselin Pechev (2/4),
  • Veselin Pechev (0/0)
Teams
Serbia:
  • Kosta Stojkovic,
  • Ronaldo Bitici,
  • Boris Lazin,
  • Dragan Jankovic,
  • Nikola Pesterac,
  • Branko Carapic,
  • Mihaijlo Ilic,
  • Aleksandar Ilic,
  • Stefan Vukanovic,
  • Aleksa Milkovic,
  • Mihajlo Jovic,
  • Stefan Milinkovic,
  • Denis Bajrami.
  • Subs: Ilija Krstic,
  • Vuk Štrbac,
  • Tihomir Stamenkovic,
  • Aleksandar Pavlovic
Bulgaria:
  • Kevork Kasparian,
  • Veselin Pechev,
  • Stefan Avramov,
  • Milen Nikolov,
  • Nikolai Bojilov,
  • Ivailo Krstanov,
  • Pavel Blagoev,
  • Tihomir Simeonov,
  • Vladislav Parizov,
  • Denis Ivanov,
  • Antonio Lubenov,
  • Kristin Georgiev,
  • Georgi Kocev.
  • Subs: Martin Hristov

Match report

A youthful Serbian XIII side set up the ideal tournament finale with a hard-fought win over a game and determined Bulgarian side.

 The promise shown by Bulgaria against the Greeks continued abound as despite being outnumbered on the player front, they took the fight to Serbia XIII and traded scores with the more experienced side, as well as matching up in attack and defence, leading 16-14 at half-time and on the verge of causing an upset.

 Despite Antonio Lubenov completing his hat-trick try in the 66th minute, it was the Serbs who took control of the game, utilising their greater number of subs to great effect and over-running the Bulgarians with six tries in the second half and an excellent kicking performance from Stefan Vukanovic that split the Bulgarian defence time and time again for a final score of 50-20.

 It brought the crowd to its feet ahead of the final match and gave Serbia a chance to win the Balkan Championship at home. Bulgaria finished the tournament with no points, but with their first full international games played and a lot of promise for the future.