Great Britain's amateur team, led by West Bowling's Nigel Halmshaw, are confident of triumphing today when they face the United States for the inaugural Victory Bowl at Moscow's Olympic Stadium.

The game will be a curtain-raiser to the Victory Cup match between France and Russia, who beat the Americans 44-14 in the qualifiers.

Great Britain went down 30-24 to the French in front of 2,000 fans in their qualifier, also played in the Olympic Stadium, on Tuesday.

Halmshaw said: "The Americans are a big, strong side who were knocking the Russians off their feet. However, I think they are a little bit raw and our skills will be the telling factor."

As for the game against the French, the skipper said: "There wasn't that much in the teams but they took their chances.

"Yet, I think that a lot of their tries came from our mistakes. That is obviously not something that you plan on, but it happens and you just have to get on with things.

"I was very proud of the new boys making their debuts with everyone from one to 17 playing really well.

"Nobody had a bad game. There were two or three candidates for the man of the match, but overall I thought the performance was good one."

Refereee was former Bradford Northern junior Russell Smith (Castleford), who was delighted to be given the match.

He said: "I received the appointment two -and-a-half weeks ago, and when I arrived the stadiums of the McAlpine, JJB and KC in Hull were second to this awesome stadium.

"The culture in the city is something else, and with regards to the game I think it was superbly organised with the pace not as intense as Super League, and from a match official point of view it was an extremely clean game."

Great Britain coach Mick Turner said: "I thought all the lads, especially those making their debuts played out of their skins with everyone putting their bodies on the line.

"The French were a little bit stronger than we were, but they were fortunate to win in the end.

"For me the turning point was the 40-20 that didn't really go and they ended up scoring. Still we are not bothered who we get in the end because we are not going to lose two back-to-back games."

Neil Baxter, Great Britain's manager, said: "Maybe if we had a couple of players with Super League experience then it probably it would have been us winning but you cannot knock the lads for what they have done. Now we have just got to bounce back today.

"The good thing is that the spirit in the camp is still pretty high. Hopefully we will go back with a little bit of silverware and it all bodes well for the future."