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A third-consecutive Paralympic gold medal in wheelchair rugby remains within reach of the Australian Steelers after their gutsy 50-48 victory today over France at Tokyo 2020.
Shocked by Denmark to open their campaign with a one-try loss on Wednesday, the Steelers took another blow just hours before tip-off against France, when star 0.5 player Mick Ozanne was ruled out due to illness.
Unable to run their key starting line-up, and needing victory to stay alive at the tournament, the Steelers’ depth came to the fore as Jake Howe, Richard Voris, Jason Lees and Shae Graham all made their first appearance at the tournament and shone brightly.
Graham came off the bench in the second quarter to become Australia’s first female Paralympian in the sport and scored a try with her second touch of the ball. Her impact exemplified a Steelers performance in which everyone called upon by head coach Brad Dubberley come on court, absorbed the pressure and did their job.
“This victory was massive for us,” Dubberley said.
“We’re on a different journey and this is what our team is about. It’s about character and overcoming every obstacle in our way.
“In London [in 2012] we went and won very easily, Rio 2016 was very competitive the whole way through including a final that went to double-overtime, and this time, we’re having to scrap and fight our way back into the finals.
“It’s actually a great thing for our team to not have to play our starting line-up today. Mick is a huge part of our team, but playing so well today gives us so much belief as we go to play against Japan tomorrow, knowing that we get our strongest and most powerful lineup back. The other guys were fantastic today.”
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Dubberley confirmed Ozanne’s illness was not related to COVID-19 and said it was possible he would return for Friday’s blockbuster against Japan.
The two teams are ranked one and two in the world.
For Australian captain Ryley Batt, the victory was exactly what was needed after they were humbled by a cohesive and hungry Denmark outfit 24 hours earlier. Knowing that a second loss ended their chances for gold, Batt’s relief post-match was evident, as was the pride he has in his team-mates.
“We were very, very disappointed with yesterday and we knew today that we had to fight and bring back our team and play the way we usually play to keep ourselves in this Paralympic Games,” Batt said.
“France is unreal. They are unreal team at the moment, they’ve been playing over in Europe and they’re used to playing international games. We’re not. So that is a massive win for us to play against a team that is in form.
“That’s how we should be playing. Yesterday against Denmark it was a very, very hard one to swallow.
“Onwards and upwards now. We’ve been in a situations before where we’ve lost games, then we’ve won games later in tournaments when we needed to stay alive. We’ve got the experience and we’ll be fighting even harder tomorrow. Every game for now is a final for us.”
It was particularly special victory for Chris Bond and Ben Fawcett, who celebrated milestone games in Steelers uniform. Bond scored two tries in his 200th match while Fawcett played the most minutes of any Australian on-court in his 150th appearance for his country.
The Steelers will now face Japan tomorrow at 3pm (AEST). You can watch all the action on Channel Seven and 7plus.
Watch the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games live and free on Seven and 7plus from August 24 – September 5.
By: Tim Mannion, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 26 August 2021
