Home advantage tells as the BT World Wheelchair Rugby Challenge gets underway. David Ironmonger reports from The Copperbox
Team GB got off to a great start in the BT Wheelchair Rugby Challenge as they dismissed France in their opening game 55-45. James Roberts and Ayaz Bhuta combined for an impressive 35 points.
The visitors came into the game as the underdogs and at 10th in the world the lowest-ranked team in the group.
However, the French were no pushovers early on as Bhuta and Ryadh Sallem traded blows right from the start, with both consistently scoring for their retrospective teams.
In the first quarter, Roberts forced a fumble, which created a golden chance for Team GB to build on their small lead.
The home side capitalised on the early turnover by scoring a try to see GB end the first quarter with a five-point lead at 15-10.
In the early stages of the second quarter, the French upped the physicality in hope of causing their own turnovers.
But they could not find a way to stop the fast-paced attack from Team GB as Coral Batey and Captain Chris Ryan started to find the score-sheet. Team GB thus dominated the second quarter, going into the break leading 28-19.
The third quarter was much of the same for the hosts as Roberts and his teammates continued to outscore their opponents by slowly capitalising on turnovers and defending well.
Bhuta was next to score taking his try tally to 20 while vice-captain Gavin Walker added five points of his own.
With the game entering the fourth, France knew they had to start fighting back, and they did with some style.
Jonathan Hivernat and Sebastien Lhuissier found the try line seven and nine times each, which put France firmly on the front foot in the closing stages
As the momentum shifted, Sallem upped his physical game causing multiple turnovers in a two-minute period which resulted in the French outscoring GB 10-3.
Despite the best efforts of the French, GB hung on with some great quick counter play, with veteran Alan Ash sealing an opening night win in front of 600 people.
After the game, Roberts revealed he has been practicing with Bhuta to become the team’s main threat in games.
“It’s something we’ve been working on for a while, and it [was] our main attack line during the European championships, so we’re just trying to build on that.”
While he recognised France’s low rank, he insisted the side had not expected a comfortable win.
“That was our easiest match in terms of the group, but France can never be taken for granted they are a great team, Sallem is a great player, and we steadied the ship giving everyone court time”.