Greece, Norway name squads for Athens international

Greece and Norway have named their squads for Saturday’s men senior international at the Agios Dimitrios Municipal Stadium in Athens (kick off 5pm local time), which will be for world ranking points.

It will be third official meeting between the nations beginning in 2019 in the RLWC2021 qualifiers which saw Greece win 56-26, and they repeated the feat in Norway last November, triumphing 36-6.

Greece captain/coach Robert Tuliatu, who plays for Avignon in France, commented: “We are looking forward to welcoming Norway for what we anticipate will be a competitive and physical match. I've been really happy with our preparation and there is an exciting feeling ahead of the fixture.

“There’s a nice balance of experience and youth in our squad with several players who were present at the World Cup and also five debutants, with six of Greece's domestic teams represented. It is a testament to the positive work of our federation. Norway will provide an opportunity to see the quality of our domestic players.”

Norway head coach, Liam Stead, noted: “It is not often in the game you get to test yourself against the same opposition in back-to-back fixtures.

"This provides us with a great opportunity to see the work being done and hopefully we get to see the improvements we are striving for. Greece has proved to be the standard to which teams at this level of the international game are judged so it is always great to compete against the best. 

“The game offers a chance for two potential debutants and we have had proper preparation with us arriving two days before the game. We have increased our player pool and are now having to make difficult selection choices with our U19 programme and the growth of the game starting to show.”

As part of an initiative to improve access to international opportunities, the French Rugby League Federation are supporting the game with the appointment of Stephane Vincent as referee.

GREECE SQUAD

Brandon Onyango* (AEK), Robert Tuliatu (Avignon), Petros Bafaloukos, Stefanos Bastas, Georgios Chionis*, Aris Dardamanis, Emmanouil Koufakis*, Athanasios Lamprou, Nikolaos Mavreas*, Stefanos Morellas (Aris Eagles), Alexandros Mikelopoulos*, Georgios Pavlis*, Nektarios Tsakalos (Athens City Raiders), Panagiotis Varypatis (Athens Sharks), Ioannis Nake, Nikolaos Stefanou (Attica Rhinos), Alexandros Aliu, Ioannis Fragkos (Rhodes Knights), Adam Vrachnos (unattached).

NORWAY SQUAD

Brett Harvey (Farsund Bobcats), Kristoffer Milligan (c) (Flekkefjord Tigers), Arne Oma Torsen, Simon Olsen, Sveinung Fludal* (Haugesund Sea Eagles), Eric Mellor, Jymaal Mellor King, Nils Kristian Holte, Oliver Falk (Lillestrom Lions), Martin Solberg (Oslo Capitals), Denis Galic*, Kristian Vathne, Magnus L. Soiland, Marius Odland, Martin Hoyland (Sandnes Raiders), Frank Kiriinya, Mathias V. Holm, Stephen Mwikaria (Trondheim Rugbyklubb).

* debutantes