Three up-and-coming rugby players from Cumbria have claimed victory abroad.

England Lions Rugby League Under 19's team travelled to Serbia on Thursday July 11 to take part in the 2024 European Championships.

Daniel Knott from Dalton Dragons, Joshua Blinkhorn from Millom RLFC and Tom Farren from Roose Pioneers joined the team abroad.

The 20-man-strong development team claimed victory in the final, defeating the French Under 19s team with a score of 15 points to eight.

The 2024 Under 19s European Championship brought together six nations, England, Italy, France, Scotland, Ukraine and Serbia, as the USA Youth team made their debut.

Serbia faced Ukraine and Scotland played the USA, with the winners going on to face England and France in the semi-finals.

On Wednesday July 17, England qualified for the Final after beating Ukraine in the first match of the semi-finals, posting nine tries and winning 58 to four.

Alongside teammate Marcus Geener, Daniel Knott scored a double try.

As an extra challenge, England also faced Serbia’s U21 team in a friendly on the first day of competition.

On Saturday July 20, the Finals saw England and France go head-to-head, with the Lions taking the win.

The ten-day trip to Belgrade saw both Winger, Dan and Hooker, Josh, who also play for Furness Raiders, experience their first taste of playing abroad.

Tom, who acts as both Loose-Forward and Prop, has played abroad before as he used to play rugby Union in France, but he said it is his first time travelling with a team.

The Cumbrian players helped England achieve success and record the first back-to-back U19s Championship win.

England U19s head coach Gary Hewer said: “The performance was outstanding, I couldn’t fault the efforts of any of the players.

“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.”

You can read more about the results here: https://europeanrugbyleague.com/