England men’s wheelchair rugby league team completed an historic defence of their World Cup title, defeating their great rivals France in a thrilling final in Wollongong which underlined the overwhelming positives of the sport .
The English and the French have been the two dominant nations in the wheelchair game, sharing the previous four World Cup titles between them. On the field, they have produced thunderous and often controversial encounters but off it, there is great respect in a sport that allows disabled and able-bodied athletes to compete alongside one another.
The two nations served up another classic in Australia on Friday, with England emerging victorious to back up their win on home soil against France four years ago. The winning margin may have been 12 points but the contest was much closer for almost the whole match, with a late second-half flurry of points from the English proving decisive.
Joe Coyd, the brother of England’s head coach Tom, was one of the stars for the world champions. It was his two tries which put them into an early 10-0 lead before the French responded with four unanswered tries of their own. Now 22-10 ahead, the momentum looked to be with Cyril Torres’ side, but England struck in style as half-time approached.
Jack Brown and Rob Hawkins both scored, with Coyd also completing his hat-trick courtesy of a world-class team try to give the English a six-point advantage at the interval. That lead was wiped out shortly after the restart when the impressive Dany Denuwelaere scored for France and, as four years ago when England won by only four points, the final looked to be going the distance.
But Hawkins, this week crowned the winner of the Golden Boot and named the world’s best player for a record-breaking third consecutive year, acrobatically responded with a try almost immediately before Coyd scored his fourth and Brown crossed on two more occasions to complete his own hat-trick.
Denuwelaere offered the French brief hope with a second after Coyd’s fourth but by the time he scored his hat-trick in the final minute, the damage had been done and time had run out for France. The sound of the full-time hooter sparked jubilant and emotional celebrations among the England squad.
Perhaps the most important moment from this thrilling game is the one you did not see, though. Four years ago, England’s Finlay O’Neill was watching from home, inspired to get involved with wheelchair rugby league after being told he could not play the running version of the game any more, for health reasons.
The new star of English rugby league may have ignited the same feelings for others sitting at home on Friday morning, inspiring them to get involved thanks to the heroics of the world champions. And while the World Cup means so much, that glimmer of hope for people who need it the most undoubtedly means more.
