For the first time in their history, the Netherlands rugby league side have won four consecutive Test matches, after their 24-4 triumph in Gothenburg, Sweden.
“I am extremely proud of my players. They had to show great togetherness,” said Netherlands head coach, Kane Krlic, who played three debutants; Gydo Van Den Heuvel, David Schran and teenage back rower Rick Huther.
“The patience we showed with the ball proved important, as we continually starved the Swedish of any good field position and took advantage of that in the latter stages of the first half. One of the most pleasing aspects was, late in the second half, the Swedes had four sets on our line and we showed great pride in defending it.
“All the players had paid for their flights before the squad was announced, even knowing there was a chance they wouldn’t be selected in the seventeen, but everyone has bought into the `team first’ ethos.”
Sweden head coach, Sam Cammel noted: “It was good to get our first hit out for a while; it was a tough match played in difficult weather conditions.
“We made a lot of unforced errors and did not take the best of our chances.”
SWEDEN 4 – NETHERLANDS 24
