THE LINCOLN Financial Group Tour picks up pace this coming Sunday, December 12 when the Great Britain and Ireland Young Lions and the Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League go head to head in the Halton Silver Jubilee Test supported by Halton Borough Council at the Auto Quest Stadium, Widnes, kick-off 3pm, the first encounter in the two-Test series.

The size of the task is immense with the Australian Schoolboys having never lost a Test Series in their 27-year history and having never lost any game to a British-based team.

The tourists have also posted warnings that they are at their brilliant best notching 118 points in two comprehensive victories to open the tour.

A Student Rugby League Chairman's XIII slipped to a 56-10 defeat in Dublin on Friday with BARLA Cumbria County going down 62-0 in a rain-swept Whitehaven on Sunday.

Back-rower Paul Noone will captain the Young Lions in his home town, a Widnes Tigers player from eight years of age before he signed for the Warrington Wolves at 16.

Noone has been one of the outstanding players in this year's Academy competition which also saw him pick up first grade experience.

Following a co-ordinated initiative by BARLA and the RFL under the auspices of the Rugby League Policy Board it will be the first time the Australian Schoolboys will have run up against the best Great Britain and Ireland can offer with professional players as well as top amateurs now eligible for selection against the tourists.

The Young Lions, who all have their roots in the amateur game, will be without the services of Bulls star Leon Pryce who is recovering from a minor foot operation but there is no shortage of first grade experience in the squad with Blue Sox first grade regular Dave Hodgson, now signed for Wigan Warriors, Chev Walker the Leeds Rhinos centre who scored on his Super League debut, Wigan Warriors regular hooker Mark Smith, Newcastle-born Chris Thorman who starred for Sheffield Eagles at stand-off this year and Hull Sharks regular half-back Richard Horne who has bounced back from a shoulder injury that kept him out of the Academy international against France.

With the Test team still to be announced an impressive line up could well see Walker and Hodgson combining in the centres with Thorman and Horne linking up at half-back.

Wigan Warriors prop Ricky Bibey formerly of Leigh East and now with Wigan Warriors is also tipped to play a major role in the forward's struggle for supremacy.

Leigh Miners Rangers and last season's BARLA Youth Player of the Year front-rower Andy Gorski is currently being pursued by a number of professional clubs and is staking a major claim for a Test berth proving that top amateurs can break through at this level.

The Australian Schoolboys Roll of Honour includes players of the stature of Allan Langer, Brad Fittler and Andrew Ettinghausen, just three of the many senior international stars that have graduated from their ranks and the class of 1999 will no doubt include another clutch of future senior internationals with the majority of the tourists having already signed to National Rugby League clubs.

St George-Illawarra half-back Luke Branighan will captain a side that includes several players who have made a major impact on the NRL reserve grade and are knocking on the first grade door including centre Mark Gasnier also of St George-Illawara and nephew of the legendary Kangaroo centre Reg Gasnier and the pairing of second-row Danny Sullivan and centre Jamie Lyon who starred for Paramatta in this years Reserve Grade Grand Final and North Queensland Cowboys second-row John Rowbotham.

Coaches going head to head will be Australian's Mark Greer formerly on the coaching staff of the Canberra Raiders and current coach of the NSW State of Origin Under 17s and Young Lions Coach Steve McCormack assistant to John Harvey at Salford City Reds who comments: "We have a massive task ahead but the boys have trained hard, are totally committed and are very much looking forward to the challenge.

Mentally, physically and tactically we are now prepared and we hope to make rugby league history by notching Great Britain and Ireland's first victory against the Australian Schoolboys."

The tourists will play the cream of amateur talent in the North West when they take on BARLA Lancashire County in the third Lincoln Financial Group Tour game at Robin Park Arena, Wigan on Wednesday, December 8, kick-off 7.30pm (squad attached).

The game is supported by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities.

If you wish to contact the tourists in the build up to the First Test the details are as follows:

Friday 10 to Sunday 12 December inclusive at Everglades Park Hotel, Derby Road, Widnes, or telephone on 0151 495 2040.

The Great Britain and Young Lions Squad 1999 includes Paul Noone, amateur club Widnes Tigers, professional club Warrington Wolves and Vinny Myler, amateur club Simms Cross, professional club Bradford Bulls.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.