There was no shortage of eye-opening experiences for 17-year-old Jake Burton on his recent European water polo tour, but fending off a player who had just chomped into his neck arguably trumped the lot.

The rabid opponent resorted to sinking his teeth in mid-game after failing to land a punch against the towering centre-forward. Quickly recovering from the attack, Jake delivered a measured right of reply: “I turned around and flogged him,” he said.

As a member of this year’s National Youth Squad, the Winmalee High School student clashed with teams from nine nations spread across two tournaments last month.

Amongst them were some of the world’s toughest competitors — including Croatia and Serbia — and they clearly meant business.

“They do anything to score a goal,” said Jake.

“Punch, bite, kick. It’s a different game over there.”

Despite the dirty tactics, a bite mark wasn’t the only memento Jake brought back from the month-long tour.

Australia won gold in Germany’s Bernhard Bair Cup after thrashing Russia 16-6, Italy 10-6 and the host country 15-8. At the Vikelas Cup in Greece a lengthy penalty shoot out against Montenegro saw his team take the bronze.

While a loss to eventual winners Croatia drew the eight-nation event to a close for the squad, they bowed out having defeated Serbia — the second Aussie junior team ever to do so.

The European tour marked Jake’s debut in the green and gold since taking up water polo in his early teens and steadily climbing its rungs.

Last year he represented NSW in his first-ever international tournament in New Zealand.

Mum Sam is understandably proud.

“I was doing (Jake’s) washing, hanging his uniform on the clothesline, thinking: ‘I can’t believe my boy has played for Australia’,” she laughed.

For now, Jake is on a well deserved break and plans to return to his gruelling training schedule next month.

He has his sights set on returning to Europe for next year’s Junior World Cup.