Two tries from prop Miller Dalton – his second in the final minute - saw England’s community Lions retain the European Rugby League U19s title with a dramatic 15-8 win over France, after a sensational final at a rainy FK Radnicki Stadium in Belgrade.

There was little between the sides throughout, France leading 8-7 on the hour mark after clawing back England’s 7-0 lead at the break, until Dalton’s late intervention, powering over from close in between the posts to seal victory.

“The performance was outstanding, I couldn’t fault the efforts of any of the players,” said jubilant England U19s head coach Gary Hewer. “They kept turning up for each other for the full 80 minutes. We’ve grown into this competition from the start and been on a journey for almost 18 months to achieve this.”

Hewer added: “We were always under pressure, but this group is so close knit they just kept turning up no matter that the French kept coming at us and it showed the passion for the shirt.”

After an intense but scoreless opening quarter, with both sides having early tries ruled out, player of the match Dalton opened the scoring with a well-rehearsed move seeing him crash over, George Jamieson adding the conversion.

France went on concerted attack, England fullback Josh Langley cleaning up superbly in goal, but the young Tricolors could not convert it into points as tenacious scrambling defence kept them at bay. With half time approaching, England captain Devan Sharp added a drop goal to edge his side to a two-score lead.

The intensity went up at the start of the second period, England finding themselves down to 12 men as Marcus Geener was sin binned for a professional foul after he hung on too long following a French breakaway. 

France failed to take advantage of the extra player, but shortly after Geener’s return Clement Martin found himself in space and put Matis Jammes away for their opening score, Mateo Jiminez-Lopez’s conversion bringing France back to within one point.

A penalty on the hour-mark saw Jiminez-Lopez move his side ahead for the only time, England spurning a chance to score shortly afterwards, fumbling a kick with the line open. The lead changed hands again when England were awarded a penalty for a shoulder charge, Jameieson taking the two points on offer, before Miller settled matters.

France U19s head coach, Remi Casty, noted: “The best team deserved their win. They made less mistakes than us, our discipline with and without the ball was poor and although we fought hard to come back, we left ourselves too much to do.”