Day 2 Review | 2022 Santos Wheelchair Rugby National Championship State of Origin Encounter to Decide Division 1 Gold Medal

Defending champions, the NSW Gladiators, and last year’s silver medallist Queensland Cyclones will once again battle it out for the Santos Wheelchair Rugby National Championship Division 1 gold medal on Sunday at the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre at Carrara.

They reached the 2022 final by virtue of (respective) semi-final wins on Saturday over the Drake Medox New Zealand Wheel Blacks (59-51) and Victoria Protect Thunder (58-57) who will both take to the floor tomorrow to fight for bronze.

The gold medal match replay from 2021 also sets up a tantalising State of Origin-style encounter just hours before Sunday night’s Rugby League version in Perth.

And for Queensland it was true skin of the teeth stuff against last year’s bronze medallists.

The scores were regularly locked together in the first half and neither team gained any ascendancy until Queensland’s Canadian star Zac Madell and tireless teammate Cam Whittaker helped build a three try advantage at the final break (43-40).

All the while, Victoria’s Andrew Harrison and Jake Howe did their best in defence and out wide to keep the Thunder within striking distance.

Madell showed why he is one of the best players in the world and something of a magician by creating space for clean sideline runs like few in the competition can - but he saved his greatest trick for the final seconds of the match.

A minute out from the bell Queensland looked to have the game at three tries up before two late pushes and a turnover out of defence with just six seconds remaining resulted in a spectacular Tom Klein try.

It had the Victorians level pegging and seemingly on target to send the match into extra time.

But Madell was having none of it, creating a lightning break and travelling the length of the court at top speed to score a last gasp semi-final-saving try of his own with two seconds on the clock.

It ensured the final match of the night, and the gold medal match berth was to be Queensland’s, 58-57.

Madell seemed to take it all quite calmly.

“We used the last couple of minutes out there to sub in a few fresh players, to help right the ship,” he said.

“We wanted to close them down with experience and good hands and luckily we managed to pull it off in the end,” he said.

And Madell’s thoughts after his match-winning try?

“My only thought was that we had to play defence for another two seconds before we won.”

For NSW, their path to back-to-back Division 1 crowns is going to script with chief playmaker, the omnipresent Ryley Batt, in top try-scoring form and their semi-final effort having all the hallmarks of a team impatient for repeat Gold Coast glory.

Andrew Edmondson, Ben Leaudais and Emilie Miller also turned in performances that could only please Gladiator head coach Glen Lebeau with one sleep to go until the decider.

That said, the New Zealanders were well served by workhorses Barney Koneferenisi, Gareth Lynch and Hayden Barton-Cootes who gave as good as they got throughout the entire match with Michael Todd and Robert Hewitt bringing some energy off the bench after half time.

According to Koneferenisi, the Kiwis will take plenty from the match into tomorrow’s bronze medal showdown and are focused on heading back across The Ditch with a medal around their necks.

“We stuck to our plan, we didn’t get the result we wanted, but we kept our heads up and had fun.

“Tonight, we’ll watch the footage back and see what flaws we can improve on before tomorrow.

“There were a few negatives in tonight’s match, but a lot of positives as well such as the way our communication has improved since our first match; it’s been great,” he said.

Division 2

In today’s Division 2 semi-finals, debut team, the ACT Buccaneers, went one better by booking a spot in Sunday’s gold medal match with their clinical 42-20 win over the tournament against last year’s bronze medalists AUS Barbarians, while last year’s silver medallists, the SA Sharks, can go one better in the decider after their controlled disposal today of the other debut team, the Melbourne Unicorns (38-33).

Earlier today…

The road to the semi-finals was bumpy for some in this morning’s qualifiers.

The Buccaneers found their way into their semi-final by virtue of a commanding 41-22 win over Australian Barbarians in their last Division 2 round robin match, while Melbourne Unicorns and SA Sharks had a classic encounter that saw the Sharks hold on by the slenderest of margins and the closest of the tournament so far, 33-32.

The final Division 1 pool matches were won by the NSW Gladiators and Victoria Protect Thunder who were victorious over the Drake Medox New Zealand Wheel Blacks (51-43) and Queensland Cyclones (62-46) respectively.

Tomorrow…

Sunday’s four bronze and gold medal matches begin at 9:30am with the Division 2 deciders, followed by the Division 1 medal clashes from 12:20pm.

9:30am Division 2 Bronze
10:50am – Division 2 Gold
12:20pm – Division 1 Bronze
3:30pm – Division 1 Gold

Tickets are still available at wheelchairrugby.com.au or at the door.

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