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Japan have dethroned Australia as champions of Asia Oceania wheelchair rugby and become the first team in the region to qualify for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
In front of a packed, vocal crowd in Tokyo, the host nation delivered a masterful performance in Sunday’s Asia Oceania final to defeat the Australian Steelers 55-44
It means Australia now have just one more chance to qualify for Paris 2024.
Their unwanted new assignment is to finish in the top three of an eight-team tournament in which the venue, host nation and dates are yet to be announced by World Wheelchair Rugby. Dubbed ‘The Last Chance Qualifier’, it’s likely to be staged in February or March next year.
With their path to Paris still uncertain, Australian Steelers head coach Brad Dubberley said the disappointment of Sunday’s missed opportunity will take some time to process.
“We’ve got to go on the long road [to Paris 2024] now so we want to try and use the pain we’re feeling to learn from this,” Dubberley said.
“This is the motivation we need to fire us up for what’s now ahead of us.”
Held biannually, the past six Asia Oceania Championship finals have been contested by Japan and Australia, with Japan’s only previous victory coming in 2015.
But it was obvious in the early exchanges on Sunday that Japan were desperate to send off their outgoing head coach Kevin Orr in fitting fashion in his final game after more than six years in charge. The raw emotion and respect shown by the Japanese players at full-time towards their long-term mentor was deeply moving.
“I really would have preferred to send him out with a loss, but it was awesome to see Kevin receive the send-off that he got today from the Japanese crowd,” Dubberley said.
“He has achieved some incredible results during his coaching career and I wish him all the best for the future.”
Australia return home this week with plenty to ponder after losses to Japan in every major tournament they have played since 2019 and after saving their worst performance of the 2023 edition of the Asia Oceania Championship until the final.
There were worrying signs early. Two inbound passes from Josh Nicholson that were intercepted and two carries from captain Chris Bond that were stripped by wily Japanese veteran Shinichi Shimakawa proved pivotal as Japan took a 16-12 lead into quarter-time.
The Steelers managed to regain their composure after the break until a wild pass from Ryley Batt went out of bounds for the only turnover from either team in the second quarter. Japan converted the error into a try to extend the margin to five at half-time. From that moment, the deficit looked irretrievable.
“We gave that game away. Japan played really well, they looked hungry particularly here in front of their home crowd,” Dubberley said.
“You’ve got be careful to not leak a turnover at any time, particularly in a final, but to leak that many turnovers in that first quarter was extremely disappointing. It’s always hard playing catch-up.”
The Steelers never gave up and forced Japan to take their last time-out early in the third quarter. But when the Steelers used their own last timeout intelligently to restart the shot clock near the end of the third quarter, only for Bond to send his inbound pass out of bounds by failing to find Batt as the intended recipient, Japan knew Australia’s comeback had been stifled.
The body language of the Steelers on court after that play made it even more obvious.
“To get five turnovers off Japan was really good. That would normally put us in a very good position, but we made it too hard for ourselves. We just gave up too many turnovers of our own,” Dubberley said.
“I’m extremely disappointed. There is a lot of work for us to do moving forward.”
2023 WWR ASIA OCEANIA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Tokyo, Japan
FINAL STANDINGS:
1. Japan
2. Australia
3. New Zealand
4. Korea
Gold medal match / Paris 2024 qualifier
Japan 55 def Australia
Bronze medal match
New Zealand 53 def Korea 31
Australian Steelers’ round-robin fixtures
Thursday 29 June – read our day 1 wrap
AUS 71 def KOR 23
JPN 53 def AUS 46
Friday 30 June – read our day 2 wrap
AUS 49 def NZL 40
JPN 57 def AUS 52
Saturday 1 July – read our day 3 wrap
AUS 63 def KOR 23
AUS 46 vs NZL 42
By: Tim Mannion, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 2 July 2023
Image: Yuuri Tanimoto
