Defeated but unbowed, the Under 20 team compete well at European championships

The Luxembourg Under 20 rugby team travelled to Ljubljana , Slovenia last week to compete in a tri-nations European competition as part of F.I.R.A. Under 20 championships. Due to summer holidays and university commitments both preparation and participation were restricted, but this tournament is vital in Luxembourg's continued development, giving young, promising players the opportunity to make the step from Under 18 to full international status. Games were played on Wednesday against Slovenia, and Friday against Moldova, and whilst losing both, the team did compete very well, being extremely unlucky to lose 23-24 to the hosts. Friday's match with Moldova was an improved effort. Despite being vastly outweighed Luxembourg displayed better tactical and technical skills to compete for long periods against a much higher ranked team. Conceding two soft tries in the final 6 minutes of the first half, the score went from 15-13 to 27-13, and again in the second spell after battling back to 34-21 with 10 minutes remaining, two further avoidable tries were scored by Moldova to inflate the final score to 48-21. Considering that Moldova then defeated Slovenia 41-3 on the Sunday there was merit in Luxembourg's performance but the loss on Wednesday was a disappointing, missed opportunity. Scorers against Slovenia were: Will Bond (try) Mike Liebl (try) Scott Browne (2con, 3pen) 23-24 (H/T 9-12) Against Moldova: David Coelho (try) Sebastian Dunnett (try) Scott Browne (3pen) 48-21 (H/T 27-13) The squad contained 17 players who have competed at the European Under 18's, and this continuity will eventually be reflected in the full National side in the very near future. Scott Browne led the team by example and he will progress to higher honours very soon, Sebastian Dunnett at No 8 was voted player of the day by both opposition sides and despite the odd error, had a good tournament. Flavien Grimmer, Antoine de Mautort, Julien Miquel, Erwan Hartman, Guy De Macedo and Ben Gathercole toiled manfully in the forward pack, with Will Bond, Adrien Timmermans, Alexis Albouze and Antoine Cochet giving everything in the backline. James Harris, a late addition to the team was simply outstanding at fullback in the Moldova match and certainly has a bright future in the game. Full squad; Julien Miquel, Antoine de Mautort, Mike Liebl, Manu Degado, Ryan Shakespeare, Flavien Grimmer, Erwan Hartman, Sven Lefevrre, Ben Gathercole, Guy De Macedo, Sam Isara, Sebastian Dunnett, Hugo Lippert, Will Bond, Scott Browne, Max Dozin, Antoine Cochet, Adrien Timmermans, David Coelho, Alexis Albouze, Louis Yamazaki and James Harris.