Wales Dragonhearts ended their tour of Serbia on a high after beating their community representative side 50-4.
After only losing 22-20 to the country’s senior side on Wednesday, this match up was a real test of the two nations’ skill levels and the Welsh showed their superiority by running in nine tries to one.
A clean break from Ben Stelmaszek on nine minutes gave the Dragonhearts the lead. Mike Hurley converted.
The Serbs held out well for a while but after Veliko Stankovic was sinbinned on 23 minutes, the Dragonhearts took full advantage.
An excellent sprint from Connah Harding down the wing gave Dragonhearts their second try that Hurley converted.
From kick-off, Harding turned from scorer to creator as he set up Sam Pridgeon to score the Dragonhearts’ third try which Hurley converted.
Serbia hit back with a try in the corner from Ronaldo Bitici on 35 minutes which went unconverted. That made it 18-4 and Wales addressed the balance straight away when Ryan Griffiths scored under the sticks and Hurley goaled again.
Wales’ fifth try came just before the interval when Shane Lee set up Alfie Mathias to go over. Hurley kept up his 100% record with the boot making the score 30-4 at the break.
Following an early second half brawl that saw Aleksa Radic and Darrell Moyle sent off, Wales scored again, Dafydd Jones scoring in the corner after a fine passing move with Hurley missing the kick.
Wales soon scored their seventh try after Mathias easily ran through the Serbian defence. Hurley missing again leaving the score on 38-4 to the Dragonhearts.
Their eighth try came on 68 minutes when Griffiths scored in the corner. Hurley converted well from the touchline.
And their ninth and final try came on 73 minutes when Stelmaszek ran from the halfway line to place the ball under the sticks with Hurley converting to bring up the 50.
SERBIAN XIII
21 Petar Milanovic
2 Boban Jankovic
3 Veliko Stankovic
5 Ronaldo Bitici
17 Iuja Krstic
6 Filip Stosic
7 Djordje Stosic
8 Danilo Kosanovic
9 Stefan Nikovic
10 Denis Bajrami
11 Milos Aleksic
15 Aleksa Radic
19 Milan Rakic
Subs:
24 Mihajlo Stojilkovic
12 Marko Jankovic
22 Stevan Ivankovic
18 Dujan Milutinovic
Tries: Bitici (35)
Goals: D Sotsic 0/1
WALES DRAGONHEARTS
1 Connah Harding (North Wales Crusaders A / North Wales Origin)
2 Sam Pridgeon (Llanelli Knights / Premier League West)
3 Dafydd Jones (North Wales Crusaders A / North Wales Origin)
4 Adam Watton (Valley Cougars / Premier League East)
5 Alfie Mathias (North Wales Crusaders A / North Wales Origin)
6 Ben Jones (Valley Cougars / Premier League West)
7 Shane Lee (Valley Cougars / Premier League West)
8 Darrell Moyle (Torfaen Tigers / Premier League East)
9 Matt Williams (Torfaen Tigers / Premier League East)
10 Gethin King (Valley Cougars / Premier League East)
11 Jonny Rees (Llanelli Knights / Premier League West)
12 Ben Stelmaszek (Thatto Heath Crusaders / North Wales Origin)
13 Mike Hurley (Valley Cougars / Premier League East) (captain)
Subs:
14 Corey Phillips (Rhondda Outlaws / Premier League East)
15 Henri Roberts (North Wales Crusaders A / North Wales Origin)
16 Ieuan Griffiths (Rhondda Outlaws / Premier League West)
17 Morgan Knight (Torfaen Tigers / Premier League East)
18 Max Hendy (Rhondda Outlaws / Premier League West)
19 Ryan Griffiths (Ince Rose Bridge / North Wales Origin)
20 Brett Thomas (Torfaen Tigers / Premier League East)
Tries: Stelmaszek (9, 73), Harding (30), Pridgeon (33), R Griffiths (38, 68), Mathias (40, 52), D Jones (48)
Goals: Hurley 7/9
Half-time: 4-30
Referee: Slavisa Zekic
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