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Great Britain's handball hopefuls gained a wealth of experience during a training camp in France in which they faced off against top club and international opposition.

The team played matches against French club sides Montpellier and Istres as well as the Japan and Algeria international teams.

With several senior players missing through injury and illness, some of the youth and fringe players were handed chances in the opening match against Montpellier, which they lost 35-14.

Later in the same day, an improved performance saw them go down 35-22 to Japan.

The team continued to improve against Algeria, ranked as the third-best team in Africa, losing 29-19 as experienced player Mark Hawkins and goalkeeper Jesper Parker returned.

Hawkins again sat out of the final match, a 27-16 defeat against French Cup winners Istres.

Bill Baillie, GB assistant coach, said: It was a tough camp for the players with two days of physical work with the strength and conditioning coach included in the nine training sessions, on top of training temperatures between 32- 38 degrees.

It was good to be in the company of two Elite Liga teams from France and to see were we are against one of the favourites for this year's Champions league. We have also gained invaluable experience playing against African and Asian opponents.

Omar Sani top-scored for Britain, scoring 13 goals across the week.

Eurosport