Serbia will warm up for their men’s European World Cup qualifier with Wales in Carcassonne in a month’s time when they face Netherlands tomorrow (Saturday) at the FC Car Konstantin stadium in the city of Nis (kick off 1 pm, local time).
The nations last met a year ago in Zwolle, Netherlands victorious 40-10. Sebia men’s head coach, Darren Fisher, commented: “This will be a good test for our domestic players. It gives them a great opportunity to be in contention for our World Cup qualifiers squad in October. I’ll be handing out some debuts and there are a couple of returning players which will freshen up the squad.”
It will be the third consecutive international weekend fixture for the Netherlands, who have defeated Scotland and narrowly lost to Ireland already in September. Oranje men’s head coach, Dave Hunter, noted: “After last week’s loss, we’re looking forward to a much-improved effort against Serbia who will be extremely tough to beat on home soil – we’ll have to be at our very best if we are to compete. However, our combinations are getting better and team moral is high.”
Enzo Peyre from France will officiate, and the match will be live streamed on the ERL and Serbian Rugby League Facebook pages.
SERBIA SQUAD
Andrej Mora, Mateja Nedeljkovic (RLC Dorcol Tigers), Aleksandar Pavlovic, Andrej Marinkovic, Djordje Krnjeta, Dzavid Jasari, Enis Bibic, Strahinja Stojiljkovic (RLC Partizan 1953), Tulisani Jabulane
(RLC Radnicki Nis), Luka Ilic, Stefan Arsic (RLC Radnicki Nis), Denis Cengaj, Marko Jankovic, Milos Calic, Nikola Djuric, Rajko Trifunovic, Voja Dedic, Vuk Strbac (RLC Red Star Belgrade), Aleks Stojanovic (Siddal)
NETHERLANDS SQUAD
Hidde van den Berg, James Adams (Amsterdam Cobras), Bonne Wilce, Kees Kuijpers, Kevin Ebing, Mavi Gevers (Brabant Bears), Tom Van Bokhoven (Cromer Kingfishers), Maas van der Reek, Maurits Thomson (Den Haag Knights), Arie-Tjerk Razoux Schultz, Daniel de Ruiter (Harderwijk Dolphins), Luke Van Bokhoven, Mitch Donnelly (Narrabeen Sharks), Dimitri Haringa, Max van der Stroom, Mike Prins, Paul Kuijpers, Pieter Kluvers (Zwolle Wolves), Tom Turnock (Rotterdam Pitbulls)