World Wheelchair Rugby Championship this August, the Australian Steelers are growing in confidence after defeating Canada 62-54 in the gold medal match of the 2014 Canada Cup.
Ryley Batt inflicted most of the damage for the Steelers by scoring 43 goals, emphasising why he was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Chris Bond scored Australia’s other goals while the evergreen Naz Erdem and captain Ryan Scott also played huge minutes to repel the Canadian threat.
“It was a really good final and a really good tournament for us,” Australian Coach Brad Dubberley said “It would have been good to get the newer guys in there towards the end [of the final], but unfortunately the game was a bit too close,”.
It should be noted that Ryley Batt, Chris Bond and Ryan Scott have more than 660 international appearances between them and were all part of the Australian Team which won Paralympic gold at London 2012.
“The game was really intense. It is so hard to play Canada on home soil, they have that cocky nature about them and they really lifted the intensity in the final,” Batt said “But our physical condition is really good at the moment and it pulled us through the game. We just didn’t want to let Canada think that they were in the game at all.” Batt added.

At the IWRF World Wheelchair Rugby Championships in Odense, Denmark this August the Steelers have drawn Great Britain and Canada, hosts Denmark, Finland and Belgium.
“We’re in the tougher pool, but I like that,” coach Dubberley said. “We will need to take every team seriously and ensure there are no drop-offs.”