Day 1 Review | 2022 Santos Wheelchair Rugby National Championship

The NSW Gladiators and Victoria Protect Thunder were both undefeated heading into their second Division 1 matches of the 2022 Santos Wheelchair Rugby National Championship on the Gold Coast on Friday evening.

But it was NSW that prevailed 59-54 in a match worthy of the national tournament competition for its quality of play and sheer flashes of brilliance from both sides.

Although the Victorian defence was as tight as a drum for most of the match, NSW captain and try machine Ryley Batt still managed to deliver a masterclass in weaving through traffic to get the ball down.

Time and time again, spurred on by a raucous Carrara crowd, he was like a hot knife through butter as he created space for himself and opportunities for his team where seemingly there were none.

And his efforts were ultimately rewarded.

With the scores 16-14 at quarter time and 30-27 at half time, both in NSW’s favour, and the Gladiators injecting Emilie Miller into the game just before the long break, both teams were out to break the near deadlock headed for home.

And that’s where NSW took the ascendency with birthday boy and two-time Paralympian Andrew Edmondson (32) getting right in the thick of the action as his side extended their lead to 45-40 at the final turn.

Momentum was now with the reigning national champions and despite Jayden Warn - internationally recognised amongst the best 3.0 players in the world - Jake Howe and Shae Graham pulling out all stops for the Thunder, NSW were too good.

Graham said a big part of her role in today’s win and loss was to run interference and “be a nuisance”.

“A big part of what I do out there is to go out and annoy the opposition and get in their way and if I can do that, my job is done.

“Today has been a good first day for us and we learn a lot from every game we play.

“We don’t often play together as a team and we are working on our combinations, our plays, and it’ll be a better day tomorrow,” she said.

Shortly afterwards the Drake Medox New Zealand Wheel Blacks and Queensland Cyclones, both smarting from first round Division1 defeats, took to the court in the final match of the day with redemption and a tiny slice of Trans-Tasman pride top of mind.

Neither side was prepared to give any quarter in the early stages of the match – literally – with two slender tries separating the teams at quarter and half time before Queensland pushed that margin out to four at the final change.

The last eight minutes served up some of the fastest plays of the day with determined New Zealand star Barney Koneferenisi scoring two tries inside the last minute to throw a scare into the locals.

But in the end Queensland held off the Kiwi outfit to win 56-54.

Earlier in the afternoon the SA Sharks notched their first Division 2 win of the tournament with a narrow 32-28 victory over the Australian Barbarians who had already suffered an opening match loss to the Melbourne Unicorns earlier in the day.

Then the Unicorns and ACT Buccaneers both went into their second-round matches as winners from earlier in the day.

After an even first half, the Buccaneers dug deep in the third quarter to find a rhythm that continued in the fourth and propel them to a comfortable 32-22 victory.

Saturday’s matches feature the last of the round robin matches ahead of the afternoon’s semi-finals with play starting with the ACT Buccaneers against Division 2 rivals Australian Barbarians at 9:15am.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Contact: Chris Nay (General Manager, Wheelchair Rugby Australia)
M: 0405 036 727
chris@wheelchairrugby.com.au

Wayne Hickson (Media Consultant)
M: 0407 028 917
hicksonmedia@gmail.com