Themostgeogr aphical

ly
diverseStudentRugbyLeague
PresidentsXIIIeverassembl ed
camet ogetherfort he
Norwegi annationalside'sfir
st
evermat chlastSundayi n
Ekeber g.Theside,whi ch
defeatedtheirhost s24-0,
includednol esst haneight
representati
vesbasedi nthe
Londonandt heSout hregion.

TheGBPi oneers,asthesideareknown,ar eateam puttogetherattheendofthe

seasont ospreadrugbyleaguetocount
rieslooki
ngt odevelopthegamewi t
hint
hei
r
borders.Previ
oustourshavetakeninmat chesagainstt
heUkr aine,Estoni
aand
Latvi
awher eithasnowt akenrootandregularmatchesarenowpl ayed.
Acrowdofover100peoplebr
avedhor r
endousweathert
owi t
nessacommitt
edand
athl
eti
cper
for
mancefrom t
heScandinavi
ans,whoprovedtheycanpl
ayrugbyleague
andhavethepot
enti
altobemorethanjustafl
ashinthepan.
Inthefir
sthal
f,thePioneersstuckt oplayingsi
mpl er
ugbyi nthetorr
enti
alrainand
quickl
yopenedupal ead.Thef i
rsttrywasscor edinthefif
thminutebywi ngerAlex
Stevensandqui ckl
yfoll
owedbya50met r
etr
ybyLondonbor nsecondrowLuke
Donovan.Thet ri
eswer econvertedbyst andof
fJamesHowar dandt henbyExet er
Universi
ty’
sStevenst oopena12poi ntleadwithin15mi nut
es.Whencent r
eMike
Ell
isaddedat hi
rdt r
yon20mi nutes,thi
ngswer elookingominousforthe
Nor wegi
ans.Tot hehomesi de’screditthoughtherewerenof ur
therscoresinthefi
rst
halfandtheywenti n16-0down.
Forl ongper i
odsofthesecondhalfNorwaywer edomi nantwithgoodposi
tioninthe
Bri
tishhal fofthef
iel
dbuttheirl
ackofexperiencepreventedthem fr
om t
aking
advant age,showinggreatcomposureandfitnesstogetthroughthebadspells.
Despi t
et hishoweverunconvert
edtr
iesfr
om wi ngerChrisGraham andscrum halfI
an
Skinnersawt hematchend24- 0tot
hevisit
ingstudents.

RugbyLeagueEuropeanFederati
onDevel
opmentExecuti
veKevinRudd,whowas
atthegamesai
d,“TheNorwegiansshowedgr
eatcourageinwhatwasagenuine
contest
.TheSt
udentsandt
heirmanagementweregreatambassador
sforthegame.
”

ThePioneerscaptai
n,f
inalyearBradfor
dUniver
sit
ystudentKei
thSandhu,sai
d,
"I
twasgoodt oseethattheNorwegianladshadpickedupthegameinashor tspace
ofti
me,allcr
editt
othei
rcoachWar r
enHeili
gfort
hat,andwitht
heri
ghtcoachingand
mental
it
yanythi
ngcanbeachi eved.”

Thephotographcontai
ns(l
-r)
:PeteFor
ster(Oxfor
d),Ol
lyO'Mara(OxfordBrookes)
,
GeorgeSmi ber
t(Oxfor
d),RyanLewis(
Br unel
),Al
exStevens(Exet
er),Pat
ri
ck
Evans(Gloucest
er)
,SteveDur ni
ng(
Northampton)
,RobWebber( Gloucest
er)