France Federale beat Serbia 42-26 in Lyon on Saturday, as part of Serbia’s 2012 international campaign, which is focused on them preparing their elite players for the two year European Shield commitment.
Eleven of the players that played in last week’s 24-18 victory against Italy in Belgrade took part. The home team, made up of the best players from the French amateur leagues, went into the break with an 18-16 lead, with the French kicking a late penalty to edge them in front. Benjamin Sarda opened the scoring on two minutes. His Ferrals team-mate, Julien Fornas, kicked seven goals and scored a 53rd minute try.
The second half saw an error-strewn Serbia allow the French to open up a 42-16 lead. The final quarter of the match saw Serbia on the front foot, with two tries making the score more respectable. Zoran Pesic, the Red Star hooker who was so impressive against Italy, scored three tries in a man-of-the-match performance.
“We had three debutants and show a bit too much respect to the French,” said Marko Jankovitch, the Serbian national team coach. “Following on with our good first half performance and perhaps getting a result was perhaps a bit intimidating to our players.”