Article added: Friday 11 November 2022

The Wheelchair Rugby World championships is the second most prestigious tournament on the wheelchair rugby calendar behind the Paralympics. Held every 4 years, the 2022 championships were held in Vejle Denmark from the 10^th-16^th of October. The World Championships involves the top 12 teams all vying to be crowned World Champion.

The Wheelblacks have been slowly building since their first Paralympic appearance for 12 years. The team were looking for an improvement on their 11^th place finish at the 2018 Wheelchair Rugby world championships in Sydney Australia.

The Wheelblacks squad to take part in the 2022 World Wheelchair Rugby Championships included the consistent performers like Gavin Rolton, Robert Hewitt, Gareth Lynch, Cody Everson Hayden Barton-Cootes and Nafi Lefono. They were bolstered by the returning Cameron Leslie and Maia Marshall-Amai, and debutant Ian Simpson. The Wheelblacks are led superbly by Co-Captains Cody Everson and Cameron Leslie. 

The Wheelblacks found themselves in the tough pool (A), which included current European Champs France, current Paralympic gold medallists Great Britain and world rugby heavy weights USA. To complete pool A was the very competitive European teams Germany and Switzerland. For the first time in World championship history the tournament would include quarter finals instead of the straight semi final set up in the past.

The Wheelblacks had a goal of aiming for a quarter final spot and hopefully causing a few upsets from there. Firstly, the team would have to navigate the very competitive pool play. On day two, the Wheelblacks opened their Championships against the strong French team. The lack of consistent international rugby showed in the Wheelblacks game, even though they fought hard to the end the French team proved to strong winning 60-42. In a tournament like the World Championships there is not a lot of time between games to dwell and the Wheelblacks found themselves back out on court against a fierce Switzerland team, who were trying to knock over higher ranked teams. The Wheelblacks put together a fantastic team performance to run out winners 57-48 and finish day two with results of 1 win 1 loss.

Day three, was always going to be a challenging day for the Wheelblacks. The first assignment was the Paralympic gold medallists Great Britain. The Wheelblacks put in a very spirited performance and really mixed it with Great Britain for 90% of the match. They put Great Britain under a lot of pressure, however, it seemed like the Wheelblacks lack of international play saw them make a few costly errors down the stretch to lose to Great Britain by a very respectable score of 55-50. The last game of day three saw the Wheelblacks take on a very determined and very disciplined USA team. The game started of tight and the Wheelblacks were well in the game at half time before the might of the USA team showed out to run away with 50-39 victory. At the end of day three the Wheel blacks had 1 win and 3 losses.

The Wheelblacks came into day four knowing exactly what they needed to do to make the quarterfinals. Beat a very competitive German team. This however would be no easy win as the Germans had been playing some inspiring rugby. The winner of this game would make the quarter finals. The game started with fireworks as both teams gave nothing away and it was a close game the whole mate. Every now and again things fall into place and teams have one of those games and today was the day for the Wheelblacks. At the end of the 3^rd quarter and beginning of the 4^th quarter some line up and tactic changes swung the match in the Wheelblacks favour and gave them a lead they would not surrender, eventually getting the win with a 50-46 score line. The Wheelblacks had a good night sleep after pool play knowing they had achieved their first goal of reaching the quarter finals.  

Now that pool play was over the Wheelblacks were looking to cause a few upsets and shake up the wheelchair rugby world taking on teams with a lot more resource and much more fancied. In the quarter finals the Wheelblacks drew undefeated Japan. Right from the tip off Japan flexed its might and saw of a determined effort from the Wheelblacks to win 58-38. This loss means the Wheelblacks would play off for placings 5^th-8^th and in their next game would play a Canadian team that has plenty of big game experience. An improved effort from the Japan game saw the Wheelblacks mix it with the Canadian team for long periods before the Canadians experience and tactics saw them pull away to win 60-49. This left the Wheelblacks in the 7^th and 8^th place playoff and their opponents were Great Britain. After the close loss to Great Britain in pool play the Wheelblacks were excited to take on their much-fancied opposition, but this time hopefully come out with the win. The game promised to be an arm wrestle and it did not disappoint. The score were all tied up at half time. The Wheelblacks applied a lot of pressure to Great Britian but they never broke. Great Britain made counter attacked and made some big plays down the stretch to eventually sneak a 52-49 win over the Wheelblacks.

An 8^th place finish was a good result for the Wheelblacks, the rugby they played was very competitive and had teams notice that they are on the improve and deserve their spot in the top 8. They will be looking to climb even higher in the future. Congratulations must go to Australia who beat USA in the final to take the crown and win the 2022 Wheelchair Rugby world Championships.

In New Zealand we are very luck to have great representation in WWR not just from the Wheelblacks, so a congratulations must go to Ken Sowden - Vice President, World Wheelchair Rugby. Cherie Harris - Head of Development, World Wheelchair Rugby. Tim Johnson - Head of Competitions, World Wheelchair Rugby. Jon Corson - Assistant Technical Delegate, WWR World Championships. Tony Dinnington - Technical Official, WWR World Championships. You all represent New Zealand extremely we and we are lucky to have you involved in wheelchair rugby.

The Wheelblacks have the best supporters and the crew that made the long trip over to support the team in Denmark you are amazing and really added to the teams’ performances. To everyone watching back home we hope you were proud of the team’s performance and excited to see them build on this for future tournaments. The Wheelblacks thank you all for all your fantastic support. And of course, the Wheelblacks would like to thank DG Sports, Melrose and Lynn River for your continued support of the team in helping them to take on the rest of the wheelchair rugby world. 2023 looks to be a busy and exciting year ahead for the Wheelblacks keep a look out for their tournaments and results on Facebook and Instagram.

If you would like to support the Wheelblacks visit their give a little page below and donate https://givealittle.co.nz/org/nz-wheelchair-rugby-inc