NORBERTAS Radzevicius has spoken of his joy after helping Lithuania’s sevens side win the Europe Trophy tournament.

The Rochford Hundred winger played a key part in his country’s success.

And the 20-year-old was unable to hide his delight.

“To say I’m feeling proud would probably be an understatement,” said Radzevicius.

“I think it’s everyone’s dream to wear their country’s colours and represent them on a big stage but now our stage has got bigger.

“The Grand Prix, where we will now play, consists of the top European teams and that’s where we aimed to play and will aim to stay now.”

Lithuania made sure of their elevation by impressing in a number of matches.

And Radzevicius thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

“Making my debut for Lithuania’s national sevens squad was pretty unreal, especially with how things ended,” said the Basildon-based youngster.

“The Europe Trophy tournament consisted of two legs, one played in Zagreb, Croatia and one in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Zagreb was the first stop for us, where we dominated our group and narrowly lost to Belgium in the semi-final before claiming third in the tournament.

“Zenica was the next and last stop where we had to go about things differently in order to play the same team in the semi-final and win, which we did.

“That meant that we also had to win in the final to win the overall tournament and get promoted to Europe’s top league, which is what we did.”

And there was no shortage of action for Radzevicius.

“In both legs, every team played six games I believe - three in the group stages and three in order to find their place,” said the former Seevic student.

“On a personal note, I started in most games and got a few tries, my first being in our first game in Zagreb against Bulgaria so I was really pleased to play my part.”

And those performances came after Radzevicius had been selected after impressing in his country’s training squad.

“To earn a selection spot in the squad, I was invited to the first and bigger training squad, where I had to leave home and work and go to Lithuania for a period of time before the squad was cut to the team travelling to the tournament,” said Radzevicius.

“Training with the guys has definitely benefited me and I’m looking forward to getting back to things again next summer after another season with Rochford.”