Loftus' England push for development during Nordic Cup test

England Senior Men open their Nordic Cup campaign against hosts Denmark tonight (6pm local time, 5pm UK time), with Coach Simon Loftus looking forward to seeing how the team measures up.

 In what is a first full-scale tournament since a first ever Novotel Cup win in December, the Three Lions will be testing their skills against talented Scandinavian teams in the shape of the Danes, Sweden and Norway. 

It remains to be seen exactly how strong the teams their opponents will field, but, on paper, it represents a tough challenge against countries that are traditionally among the strongest in NEVZA. 

Regardless of that, and the outcome of their matches, Loftus is keen to gauge how his squad – which is once again able to welcome some of its strongest players who play professionally overseas – has developed since their triumph in Luxembourg in the winter. 

 “Training has been going well, albeit with a short timeframe,” said Loftus. “We’ve been working on tweaking on some of the themes that we have been working on for the last 18 months. 

“The wins are great, but we’re looking forward rather than back. We are on a journey and are not yet satisfied... we aspire to European and World Championships ourselves and we want to test ourselves against the best level possible.  

“Success for us from this would be building on the themes and ideas of what we’ve been doing over the last couple of years and seeing that the guys can compete against these teams. 

 England’s preparations have been hampered by the withdrawal of Nathan Fullerton and Archie Golding through injury. 

 But they have been able to call on two strong replacements in Zach Omoshebi and Will Evans, so hope it will not hit their plans too hard. 

 Loftus added: “Whilst the injuries are unfortunate, it is testimony to the development work we have been doing and the growth of the squad that people are able to integrate in without any drop off to the overall standard of the group. 

 “Starting against Denmark, we know they are a top team who competed against the likes of Poland in the last year’s European Championship. 

“We played Norway back in 2016 when we last competed in the European Championship and they beat us. 

 “After several years, Sweden are resurrecting their programme with a new coach and have entered the European Championships from next year, so we’re delighted to be competing against such high-quality teams and expect some good matches.” 

 Anyone wanting to watch the Nordic Cup matches live can do so by subscribing here, costing 59DKK (£6.66) for a month’s access. 

You can support the England team, who are self-funded aside from support from the Volleyball England Foundation, by clicking here.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE 

Thursday 8th August

6pm: Denmark v England  
8pm: Sweden v Norway 

Friday 9th August 

6pm: Denmark v Sweden 
8pm: England v Norway 
   
Saturday 10 August  
12noon: England v Sweden 
2.30pm: Denmark v Norway 

All times are local (CEST), so will be one hour earlier for BST.