NEW Earswick All Blacks hooker Tom Hodgson will captain the BARLA Great Britain Under-18s on their ten-day tour to Serbia.

The squad leave for the Balkans tomorrow and will play matches against Serbia U21s and Serbia U23s, as well as compete in a Nines tournament.

Hodgson, who has previously captained the side against the Australian Schoolboys and is in the York City Knights Academy, is one of five players in the 23-man squad with strong York links.

As reported by The Press, Joe Budd, a York Acorn player, is involved, as are Scarborough's Danny Ljazouli and Hull-based duo Andy Kay and Jonathan Young, a trio who are also on the Knights Academy books.

U18s coach Kelvin Lockett, whose side enjoyed victory in a warm-up game against Dudley Hill at the weekend, said: "Tommy Hodgson from the New Earswick All Blacks club will captain the side as he did against the Australian Schoolboys and he sees it as a great honour.

"This is the first step on the international ladder and Tommy together with the rest of the squad are all very proud of representing their country and they are really looking forward to going over to Serbia, not just to play and play well but to be good representatives for the game over here and hopefully helping to develop the game over there."