Only six members of Australia’s London 2012 Paralympic gold medal winning wheelchair rugby team will line up for next week’s Canada Cup, with head coach Brad Dubberley set to trial a series of new combinations ahead of the IWRF Wheelchair Rugby World Championships in August.
Head coach Durbberley explained that the team will be Captained by veteran 0.5 player Ryan Scott, the team includes London medallists Ryley Batt (3.5), Chris Bond (3.5), Josh Hose (3.0), Jason Lees (1.0) and Naz Erdem (0.5), and will be joined by Michael Ozzane (0.5), Jason Ellery (2.0), Jayden Warn (3.0) and Matthew Lewis (3.5).
“For us at Canada Cup, we’re not focused solely on winning but rather developing the team for world champs,” said Dubberley. “It’s a very different team to the one that won gold in London and with so many newer faces, the young guys are trying to make their mark, earn their court time and because of that, are trying really hard. It’s exactly what I want to see.”
Head Coach Durbley explained that Australia finished in third position at the 2012 Canada Cup, and enters this year’s tournament ranked number two in the world, behind the USA, who will not be contesting the 2014 Cup. Australia will open the tournament against Switzerland next Friday (AEST), followed by Great Britain and Sweden before hopefully moving through to the knock-out games.
“We’re striving to be the best team in the world, and to do that, we need tournaments like this to get a feel for how the other countries are going and what to expect at tournaments like the World Champs,” said Dubberley.

The Canada Cup takes place from 19-21 June in Richmond, Canada, and the IWRF Wheelchair Rugby World Championships take place from 5-10 August in Odense, Denmark.

Australian Wheelchair Rugby Team

#2 – Nazim Erdem – 0.5
#3 – Ryley Batt – 3.5
#4 – Josh Hose – 3.0
#5 – Jason Ellery – 2.0
#6 – Michael Ozzane – 0.5
#7 – Jason Lees – 1.0
#10 – Chris Bond – 3.5
#11 – Ryan Scott – 0.5
#12 – Curtis Palmer – 2.5
#22 – Matthew Lewis – 3.5
#23 – Jayden Warn – 3.0

Game schedule (all times are local to Richmond, Canada)

Thursday 19 June, 2014
9:30am – Australia v Switzerland
5:00pm – Australia v Great Britain

Friday 20 June, 2014

9:30am – Australia v Sweden
5:00pm – Quarterfinals
7:00pm – Semi-finals

Saturday 21 June, 2014

12:00pm – Bronze medal
2:00pm – Gold medal

 

Canada Cup games are being broadcast: http://www.sportscanada.tv/wheelchairrugby/