Great Britain u19s Head Coach Scott Rowe says the real work for his emerging squad now begins after defeat to a powerful Italy side who beat the Lions 34-0 at the Velodromo Vigorell in Milan last weekend.
With the squad now back in the UK, Rowe has taken stock of the team’s overall performance following their IFAF European Championships setback. The visitors struggled to contain a pounding running game of Italy coupled with a swarming defence that deservedly recorded a shutout.
He said: “It was a disappointing evening for sure, but I’m very proud of our guys for battling right to the end. No complaints about the result – full credit goes to a very physical and powerful Team Italy who were the better team on the night. This was a reality check for us.”
Team Italy now progress to a fifth place in the tournament against Germany in September. For GB, Rowe’s focus will be to elevate the young Lions to consistently higher performance levels, glimpses of which were apparent – particularly in the second quarter when GB was largely able to stall Italy.
“We have some work to do to get to the level we need to be performing at. We start that work immediately and will be relentless in taking the required steps to progress this program.”
