Press Release, Date: 1/7/12

The Czech Republic started their historic national teams representative weekend disappointingly, with the Czech Youth team being thoroughly outplayed by the far more experienced BARLA (British Amateur Rugby League Association) Youth in Beroun, and suffering a 70-0 point loss as a result.

The Czech team – made up of under 20 players from the domestic Czech Championship, the majority of whom are playing their 1st season of any form of rugby – were totally outplayed by a far more highly skilled & rugby league savvy group of young English players. The 1st half reflected the fact that not only were most of the Czech players deficient in some of the basic rugby skills and knowhow, but that they were also totally overwhelmed by the occasion, and the physicality of the opposition. The result was a half-time score of 52-0 to BARLA.

The 2nd half saw the rookie Czech forwards, led by Karel Hudik, Tomas Perlik & Martin Pokorny, take a more direct route in to their opposition, & some strong running & conservative ball handling from the team, resulted in the Czech team keeping the visitors scoreless for large chunks of the period, while also threatening the opposition line on several occasions. Home-town players Martin Cernohorsky & Dalibor Smotek showed plenty of grit for the Czech team, while Usti nad Labem’s Jindra Jiroutka, playing only his 3rd game of rugby league, was another stand-out – his 50 metre sprint from the opposite wing to pull down a BARLA player cruising to the tryline, one of the standout efforts of the night.

Czech team coach, Petr Sedina, was philosophical about the result, while being satisfied with the 2nd half effort of most of his players. “Unfortunately because of domestic activities we have had very little preparation time for this game, so were always up against it. The BARLA lads have come here keen to impress, and they did so tonight. Our guys didn’t start well, but I thought their effort in the 2nd half was much improved and showed that there is plenty to work with for the future”.

The BARLA team named impressive Mikulov front-rower Hudik, their man of the match, after a series of bullocking runs and an obvious determination to continue battling through adversity attracted their admiration, while the Czech named Saddleworth’s Jack Connor their best player from BARLA.

The Czech representative weekend continues with the CZRLA International 9s to be played in Pardubice on Saturday, with a BARLA team again participating, before the BARLA Youth team take on the Czech Universities team on Sunday. The 1st half of the domestic season before the mid-year summer hiatus closed down with the Prague Vikings winning a thrilling match which was only decided by a converted in the final minute of the match against the Pardubice Jets, 48-44.

 

Czech Youth v BARLA (28.6.12, Beroun):

1. Jiri Pecina (Chrudim)

2. Matej Pecina (Chrudim)

3. MarekPluhar (Chrudim)

4. Martin Cernohorsky (Beroun)

5. Dalibor Smotek (Beroun)

6. David Dolak (Praha)

7. Jan Buben (Beroun)

8. Zdenek Rolejcek (Pardubice)

9. Petr Dobremysl.(Beroun)

16. Karel Hudec (Mikulov)

11. Tomas Perlik (Havlickuv Brod)

12. Martin Pokorny (Praha)

13. Tomas Sidlik (Vrchlabi)

14. Libor Zamecnik (Hradec Kralove)

15. JanNeusl (Hradec Kralove)

17. Jan Broz (Usti nad Labem)                       

18. Jindra Jirotka (Usti nad Laben) 

19. Jan Obajtek (Havlickuv Brod)

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