With the world championships in August Australian Steelers coach Brad Dubberley believes that his team will be able to win Australia’s first World Championship in wheelchair rugby, following recent victories at the Canada Cup in Vancouver and the Asia Oceania Championships late last year in South Africa.
“We have a lot of big game experience now and our new guys have shown that they are fitting into the team well. There is no doubt the new guys also took a lot of confidence from the Canada Cup, where they all played big minutes and played pretty well.” Dubberley commented.
The World Championships are a 12-team tournament that will see two pools of six, with Australia set to meet Great Britain, Canada, Finland, Belgium and the host nation in the qualifying rounds. The other pool will see Team USA, Japan, Sweden, Germany, France and Switzerland.
“We know Canada will be a very tough and very physical opponent for us, and that the European teams play a very different style of rugby to one that we play. They focus more on passing, ball control and being patient while we play a faster, more physical style. That means we will just have to stay focussed and not get frustrated.” Dubberley commented.