Rugby League: Rochdale Mayfield players to fly rugby league flag in Serbia

Jimmy Connaughton, Liam Whalley and Zac Baker from Rochdale Mayfield will fly out from Manchester Airport to begin their much anticipated Lancashire County BARLA tour in Serbian on Tuesday morning 14 May.

 

 

The current British Amateur Rugby League Association Three Counties champions will be stationed in Belgrade for the duration of their stay and will face Red Star Belgrade and a Serbian National select over the course of seven days, in addition to carrying out some development work for the sport whilst out there.

The first game will take place on Wednesday 16 May at 5.30pm CET against Red Star Belgrade with the second match scheduled for Sunday 19 May at 2.00pm CET.

The squad has been selected from teams competing in the National Conference League and North West Men’s League and met up for a pre-tour training and briefing session on Sunday.

Lancashire will again be coached by Mick Blakeley. He will be ably assisted by Craig Farrimond, Chris Murphy and Peter Eccles while Steve Blakeley travels as physio.

The touring party has seen some late drama with Danny Brown, Latchford Albion, picking up an injury recently, and there were also concerns for Zac Baker, Rochdale Mayfield. 

 

 

Despite these tribulations, everyone is in good spirits ahead of the tour and chair Phil Johnson said: “We are all really looking forward to getting out to Belgrade, seeing a stunning country, playing some rugby league against great hosts and spreading the word.”

Both tour games are to be streamed online via Red Star Belgrade's Facebook page. You can follow them by searching for Red Star Belgrade Rugby League.