The 19-man squads have been confirmed, and all-neutral match officials announced, for the U19s European Championships semi finals and ranking matches.
England will play Wales and France look to overcome Scotland in the main tournament, whilst Ireland take on Italy and hosts Serbia face Ukraine in the plate, all at the Makis Stadium in Belgrade tomorrow (Wednesday).
“Wales will not be an easy game, and we expect it to be a close and tough for the lads,” said England U19s head coach Allan Coleman. “However, the team have bonded well together and we have learned from our previous game with Serbia, we are hoping to come back stronger again.”
Opposite number Anthony Walker noted: “It’s been a difficult few days having to select our squad due the performances of the players against Ukraine. Everyone has put their hand up although we are also disappointed to lose Elliott Jenkins due to injury.”
France general manager Florian Chautard noted: “We take Scotland very seriously. We Know we can play better than we did against Italy, all the team is very focussed on the semi final, we want to win our ticket for the championship decider.”
For Bravehearts head coach Danny Addy: “We’ve had the right sort of selection headache. The boys know what they need to do, we were very pleased with a lot of things that they did in the Ireland game and we’ve worked on some of those that let us down a bit - we aim to surprise a few people in the semis.”
Wayne Kelly, Ireland’s head coach noted: “We’re recovered and regrouped ahead of our next game. The vibes are good around the camp and the players are ready for what will be another tough game.”
Whilst for Azzurrini head coach Salvatore Pezzano: “We face every race with the will to win. After the loss against France there is a great desire for a response. Against Ireland we are well aware that it will be difficult, but the boys want to play and test themselves. I expect a great match, I'm very confident in this group.”
Serbia’s Matt Dragišić is looking forward to playing in a second game. “It was an honour to debut for Serbia against England, having my family there to watch and knowing my grandfather would have been extremely proud,” he said. “England are one of the favourites to win the tournament and showed why against us. We are now focused on the next two matches and know we will be more competitive with each game to finish the tournament on a high.”
Ukraine, whose players were given training tops by England in the lead up, are confident that they will perform well in the all Eastern Europe clash. “Our team is ready to go again and do its best against Serbia and our players are eager to taste victory,” said head coach Ihor Yurkin.
ENGLAND U19 19-MAN SQUAD
Liam Kenyon (Blackbrook); George Senior (Dewsbury Celtic); Jake Bradley (Hensingham); Brad Holyroyd (Leigh East), Louis Brogan, Calum Coleman, Rob Crompton, Joe Digby (Leigh Miners); Ben Bradshaw (Myton); Callum Wood (Orrell St. James); Brandon Wood (Rochdale Mayfield); Elias Harrison, Curtis Williamson (Skirlaugh); Ben Shelby (Stanningley); Sam Favell (Thatto Heath); Curtis Teare (Wath Brow); Leon Harber, Gary McMahon (Wigan St. Jude’s); Ben Holmes (Wigan St. Pats).
FRANCE U19 19-MAN SQUAD
Matthias Leveillé (AS Carcassonne), Thimoté Bertrand, Lucas Emblard, Corentin Rey (SO Avignon), Sébastien Bled, Sébastien Brochon, Louis Carré, David De Macedo, Guillaume Gorka, Thomas Lacans, Matthieu Laguerre, Corentin Le Cam, Arthur Mourgue, Barthelemy Rougé, Hugo Salabio, Florian Vailhen (Saint Esteve XIII Catalan), Pierre Fourquet, Matthieu Jussaume, Pierre Jean Lima (Toulouse Olympique)
IRELAND U19 19-MAN SQUAD
Sam Cullen, Ryan Curran, Conor Smyth (Athy Sharks), James Cromie, Gareth Gardiner, Andrew Smyth (Belfast Met Scholars), Charlie Donnelly (Dublin City Exiles), Jack O’Sullivan (Eastern Rhinos), Sam O’Sullivan, John Why (Galway Tribesmen), Shalun Carey, Josh MacNamee, Ronan Michael, James Mulvaney, Kevin Varga (Longhorns RL), Zack Fellows (Midland Hurricanes), Jordan McKibbin (Portadown Pumas), Dan Goddard (Salford City Reds), Callum O’Neill (Widnes Vikings)
ITALY U19 19-MAN SQUAD
Mattia Saoncella (Comitato Nord Est), Davide Arena, Werther Bartolini, Mattia Cantoni, Stefano Cenci, Stefano Dalmasso, Simone Leotta, Fabio Morosi, Leonardo Raveggi, Davide Signorelli (Comitato Nord Ovest), Leonardo Artale, Mario Di Sano, Alfio Laudani, Salvatore Lipera, Francesco Mendosa, Gianluca Privitera, Giovanni Rizzo, Antony Virzi (Comitato Sud), Nico Rizzelli (Halifax)
SCOTLAND U19 19-MAN SQUAD Euan Caldwell (Bon Accord Bulls) Matthew Fletcher, Luke Punton (Bradford Bulls) Frankie Armstrong, Timmy Kennedy, Jamie McCabe, Sean McKervail, Gregor Mitchell, Alex Williams (Edinburgh Eagles) Callum Kennedy, Fergus Simpson (Edinburgh Eagles/Newcastle Thunder) Dan May (Halifax Elite Rugby Academy) Clem Harrison (London Skolars) Charlie Emslie, Connor Terrill (Millom ARLFC) Chris Paterson (Newcastle Thunder) Jack McMillan (Queensbury ARLFC) Iain Oakley (Wakefield Trinity), Adam Hay (Wallsend Eagles)
SERBIA U19 19-MAN SQUAD
Jai Smith (Brothers, Queensland), Matthew Dragišić (Canberra Raiders), Veljko Stanković (Car Dušan Silni Paraćin), Ivan Andrić, Dorotej-Dado Arnold, Uroš Golubović, Marko Janković, Ilija Krstić, Marko Šatev (Crvena Zvezda), Marko Simović (Dorćol), Daniel Marjanović (Kawana Dolphins, Queensland), Stevan Ivanković, Vladimir Milutinović, Mihajlo Stojiljković (Partizan), Zane Bijorac, Zane Marolt (Queanbeyan Blues, Canberra), Vuk Tomić (Radnički), Marko Jakovljević, Mihajlo Tomić (Radnički Beograd)
UKRAINE U19 19-MAN SQUAD
Anton Bolshakov, Daniil Chervynskyi, Anton Piatnytskyi, Andrii Shelepovskyi, Vitalii Puchkov, Denys Maiorov, Kyrylo Usik, Yevhen Chernykh (Donetsk region), Mykyta Ivchenko (Kharkiv «Legion XIII-Giants»), Liubomyr Beznoshchuk, Vladyslav Osipov (Ivano-Frankivsk «Stanislaviv»), Dmytro Vasylyshyn, Vladyslav Rudov (Khmelnitsky «Burevіsnyk»), Daniil Hapon, Volodymyr Brodovskyi, Oleksandr Petrenko, Maksym Shvets, Oleh Kunynets, Bohdan Matsiuk (Lviv «Sokil-Tigers»).
WALES U19 19-MAN SQUAD
Adam Young (Aber Valley Wolves), Cobi Green (Bradford Bulls), Benjamin Hunter, Jake Cannon, James Bartlett Morgan Rowlands (Cardiff Blue Dragons), William Lynch (Leigh Miners Rangers), Cai Ellis, James McGurk (Newcastle Thunder), Jacob Hitchcox (North Wales Crusaders A), Finlay Swift (Pilkington Recs), William Mills (Salford Red Devils), Lewis Hall (Warrington Wolves), Aneurin Walker, Ellis Simon, Fraser Stroud, James Smith, Macauley Harris (West Wales Raiders) Billy Glover (Widnes Vikings)
ROUND 2 FIXTURES
Serbia v Ukraine 1400hrs
Referee: Robin Hachache (LEB)
Touch Judge: James Spencer (IRE)
Touch Judge: Cameron Worsley (ENG)
England v Wales 1600hrs
Referee: Mo Drizza (FRA)
Touch Judge: Antonio Palacios (ESP)
Touch Judge: Guido Bonatti (ITA)
Ireland v Italy 1730hrs
Referee: Jarda Bzoch (CZE)
Touch Judge: Oleksandr Ivchenko (UKR)
Touch Judge: Ben Casty (FRA)
France v Scotland 1800hrs
Referee: Craig Smith (ENG)
Touch Judge: Andrew Pilkington (ESP)
Touch Judge: Batlomiej Sierota (POL)
All matches will be live-streamed by Sportuzivo.