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The Australian Steelers have kept their medal hopes alive at the International Wheelchair Rugby Cup in Paris, with a stirring victory over Great Britain on Friday.
The highly anticipated battle between the reigning world champions and Paralympic champions lived up to the hype, before a faultless fourth quarter performance from the Australians secured a 50-48 victory.
“That’s a great win by our team, awesome win,” Australian head coach Brad Dubberley said.
“It was a massive team effort where everyone got in and contributed big time. Very close game which we knew it was going to be, but fantastic to get the result we needed.”
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Dubberley, who took the opportunity to regularly rotate his bench throughout the contest, said he was looking for a more disciplined performance after their opening 49-48 loss to Canada in Paris and was pleased with how his each one of his players responded.
“We scored the last goal in three of the four quarters today which we didn’t do in our first game against the Canadians and that really hurt us,” Dubberley said.
“Our offence was a lot cleaner than it has been, particularly compared to our last tournament [in Japan in June]. It’s really pleasing to see how they are executing everything that we’re asking them to execute here.
“This is a team sport and there are games where you are not going to get everyone on court when you are trying to get wins first and foremost. So to get everyone into the game today and get a strong result against a quality team like GB is huge for us.”
While the depth of his squad was on show for most of the contest, Dubberley instinctively relied on his most dominant line-up in the final minutes to lock down the win and captain Chris Bond, Ryley Batt and experienced 0.5 players Ben Fawcett and Mick Ozanne did not disappoint.
“That line-up has a lot of experience and has had so much success in the biggest games we have played over the years. It was important to trust those guys in the last quarter to get us home and they did.”
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The result now sets the scene for a thrilling finale to the pool rounds on Saturday, with Canada, Great Britain and Australia all still capable of finishing first, second or third in the pool. Only the top two teams will progress.
Canada and Great Britain face each other, while the world champions take on Denmark, a team still searching for a win in Paris but an opponent that has inflicted significant pain on Dubberley’s squad in the past.
Above all else, with goal difference set to be a factor, the first objective is to secure a win.
“Denmark are an excellent team,” Dubberley said. “They upset us at the Tokyo Paralympics so we will never take them lightly. We’re going to be well-prepared, hopefully get the result to move out of our pool and see what happens from there.”
Australia plays Denmark at 12am on Saturday. All matches can be watched via the World Wheelchair Rugby YouTube channel.
Held in conjunction with the Rugby Union World Cup in France, the International Wheelchair Rugby Cup features the world’s top eight nations.
International Wheelchair Rugby Cup, Paris, France – 18 – 21 October, 2023
Australian Steelers – Fixtures (times in AEDT)
Oct 18 – CAN 49 def AUS 48
Oct 20 – AUS 50 def GBR 48
Oct 21 @ 00:00 – AUS vs DEN
Oct 21/22 – Semi-final Fixtures TBC
Oct 23 – Final Fixtures TBC
By: Tim Mannion, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 20 October 2023
Image: Megumi Masuda
