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• London (GBR)
• Flemish Silver Bullets (BEL)
• The Rebels (GER)

7 April 2008

Harlequins Rugby League announce LWRC 2008 Charity of the year

Harlequins Rugby League are delighted to have announced the London Wheelchair Rugby Club (LWRC) as their 'Charity of the Year' for 2008.

London Wheelchair Rugby Club, a registered charity of England & Wales, works to promote the sport of wheelchair rugby to adults and children, (16 years +) with a physical disability (Spinal Cord Injury) and upper limb impartment, in London and the South of England.

London Wheelchair Rugby Club is one of 8 Wheelchair Rugby Clubs based in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland playing in the Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby Coloplast National League.

London are the reigning Premier Champions, British Wheelchair Sport National Wheelchair Rugby Champions and European Club Champions (The Europa Cup), with several club members established in the Great Britain National Wheelchair Rugby Team & Paralympic Squad.

Harlequins Rugby League Cheif Executive Officer, Paul Brown, has said:

"I believe that Harlequins Rugby League and the London Wheel Chair Rugby Club share a common vision in striving to bring the game of Rugby League to as many individuals as possible in London and The South."

"The fact that London Wheel Chair Rugby allows both children and adults with a physical disability to participate in our sport is outstanding and we as a club are delighted to be able to offer them our support” he added.

Andrew Barrow, Vice Chairman for the London Wheelchair Rugby Club has said:

"London Wheelchair Rugby Club is very proud to have been made Harlequins Rugby League's Charity of the year. We see this as a massive step forward for us as an organisation and would like to think we can follow in the footsteps of Harlequins by bringing a different kind of Rugby to the whole of London and the South East."

"We hope that this partnership will bring Disability Sport closer to the mainstream and encourage people to participate in Sport in all forms and at all levels." he went on to say.

Harlequins Rugby League have been working in partnership with the LWRC since early this season to help raise funds for the charity. Harlequins RL were also recently proud to offer the LWRC all the proceeds from their easter raffle.

Harlequins RL are big supporters of the London Wheelchair Rugby team and just last week Quins players Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Daniel Heckenberg accompanied a number of the Harlequins commercial staff to watch them play at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium.

By Justin Frishberg

Hey folks,

here is my take.....

The End of an Era

London players are used to queuing up at security lines in airports feeling slightly worse for wear the day after a big European tournament. 'How did you do?' ask the interested Brits on their way back home. How strange it is to say we lost.

So many teams would be happy to make it to the final. It was a great game between us and the Rebels who we've met in the final the previous 3 Europa Cups. The game went back and forth and the smallest of errors were being fully exploited. We led into the final minute but couldn't prevent the Rebels from scoring the last goal and take the game into overtime. Again we gained an early advantage only to let it slip and again the Rebels managed to barge their way through the key with their half-tree half-man Maik and score the last goal, this time to win and deny London the record of 5 in a row.

London have been champions for a while and we thought we were aware of the dangers of complacency. Certainly a loss in the pool stages woke us up and made us understand this would be a difficult title to retain. But we played well in the semi-final to dispose of the Swiss team that had defeated the Rebels in their pool games. We could look to excuses: we were short of our 1 pointers; we had come off the back off Bernd Best and two training camps; it was raining etc etc. But at the end of the day, rugby is a sport like any other and if you could predict the outcome everytime it would be boring.

In defeat, it should be noted, we held our heads high and maintained our dignity. Many players from other countries commented on what a great game it was to watch and some have even offered to come play with us.

The disappointment is ongoing. From the moment they play 'We are the Champions' after the game, through the muted conversations at the airport, and still at home when we think of what could have been. But from disappointment comes resolve, and LWRC is a club who will look to grow stronger from this. If anyone is going to break the record of 4 in a row, it will be us. Last week, a cold German field saw the end of an era. Let us reflect with pride, look forward to the future and work to build a new era where London stands at the top of European rugby.

Justin Frishberg

Mike Raises £3,500 for London(02/04/08)

Stoke Mandeville Storm Player Mike Hughes has raised over £3,500 for London Wheelchair Rugby Club, by having his hair shaved off before travelling to Oz and a number of European counties for a short break from the sport.

Mike (Storm & GB Development) will be travelling all over Oz and enjoying life to the full, we would like to thank Mike for his hard work to raise the funds and to his dad’s Golf Club for supporting LWRC and raising £2,500 of the final cost.

Quins Rugby League Confirm LWRC as charity of the Year(13/03/08)

Quins Rugby League Club have made London Wheelchair Rugby Club Charity of the Year 2008/09 Season, and will start fund raising at the opening game of the Season against Wigan both clubs are looked forward to working together over the next twelve months to promote both sports to the city of London and the South East of England.

Andrew Barrow Vice Chairman of LWRC Said  “London Wheelchair Rugby Club is very proud to have been made Harlequin Rugby League’s Charity of the year. We see this as a massive step forward for us as an organisation and would like to think we can follow in the footsteps of Harlequins by bringing a different kind of Rugby to the whole of London and the South East. We hope that this partnership will bring Disability Sport closer to the mainstream and encourage people to participate in Sport in all forms and at all levels.”
 Paul Brown: Harlequins Rugby League Chief Executive Officer Said “I believe that Harlequins Rugby League and the London Wheelchair Rugby Club share a common vision in striving to bring the game of Rugby League to as many individuals as possible in London and The South.”
“The fact that London Wheelchair Rugby allows both children and adults with a physical disability to participate in our sport is outstanding and we as a club are delighted to be able to offer them our support.”

Well done to Troye Collins, Steve Pamler and Justin Frishberg for passing there GBWR Level One coaching course over the weekend of the 8th/9th March 08 in nottingham. (10/03/08)

LWRC LAUNCH IN ESSEX WITH LIONS-STORM DEMO GAME (04/03/08)

Only days after their encounters in the Coloplast National League, LWRC’s Lions and Storm locked horns again! This time however was a friendlier meeting to promote wheelchair rugby at the Brentwood Centre in Essex.

A more laid back game saw Lions enlist the help of Craig Streeter for the day whilst Storm were bolstered by the presence of Mike Hughes (in possibly his last appearance before a year out travelling) and new player Ian Hoskins. The friendly feel of the game was added to by the strictly amateur reffing of LWRC development manager “Alan Caron”

The game as ever stayed close between the two London sides who both struggled with unfamiliar line-ups on court. Lions chose only to use their hi/lo while Storm used their whole squad in rotation sticking to their policy of developing their newer members. At different times in the first half both teams had the momentum often getting a run of two or three turnovers only to be pegged back by the opposition. At half time the gap was only one.

The second half saw Lions begin to take control with Morrison and  Brown continuing their promising partnership. However the Storm dug in with Justin Frishberg’s work rate and John Parfitt’s “long bombs” keeping them in it. Storm were finally broken with a rash of turnovers at the start of the fourth as their newer players began to run out of gas. Lions slowed things down and cruised in 43-40 winners.

Guests included the Deputy Mayor, SDO’s from Essex and key Leisure Centre staff all of whom were entertained by players on the bench during the game who either explained what was going on or fielded questions about the club and their training regimes. After the game, the questions continued over drinks and nibbles upstairs where everybody gathered to discuss the possibility of using the Brentwood Centre as a training venue for LWRC.

The good news is that LWRC could well be re-visiting the Centre for another demo in the near future as well as beginning to satellite a few training sessions to Brentwood in the coming months. Ultimately, with a little work LWRC are hoping to set up a regular training session and a new team in Essex. Many thanks to everyone in Essex and at the Brentwood Centre, whose warm welcome and great enthusiasm helped to make our afternoon very enjoyable. Also a quick thanks to Caitlan Burns and her two friends who kindly tabled for us during the demo game.

WOLVERHAMPTON LEAGUE WEEKEND; STORM REPORT(04/03/08)

Stoke Mandeville Storm faced a tough weekend in Wolverhampton over the mother’s day weekend (March 1/2). Two matches against the London Lions, as well as one against the Wolverhampton Rhinos, would be extremely competitive but the Storm had nearly a full squad. We only missed out on Johnny Coggan who is still breeding bugs in his chest. So our top line up was Troye Collins, John Parfitt, Justin Frishberg and Steve Kenyon.

Storm 41 Rhinos 35

The first game against the Rhinos was the most important in terms of the fight to finish in the top 4 of the League, which separates into two for the chance to win at the League Play-Offs. On paper the Rhinos should have been stronger with more GB players on their books, but the Storm have been playing well and felt confident. Our plan to isolate their high pointers (Alan Ash and Chris Ellis) was working well and the early turnovers came to the Storm as we pressed 2 ahead by the end of the first quarter. We knew that continued pressure was the key from then, and the team stayed focused, and kept hitting hard whenever the Rhinos showed weakness. The score had opened up to 4 by the half and as the Rhinos started arguing with each other, the Storm never let up. The final gap was 6 and the Storm had won a crucial game.

Storm v Lions

See Andy’s report

Storm v Bulls (Void Game 1-0 Win to Storm)

The last game of the weekend was never going to be too taxing for the Storm. Although we were tired, the Bulls were on their last legs. We took the opportunity to give a good run out to the newer players (Craig Streeter and Gary Craig). We started to rack up the points, and although journeyman Rob Smith was trying to hold his team together, they were flagging and eventually 2 of their 5 players simply couldn’t take the heat and the game was abandoned at the end of the 3rd quarter.

For the Storm this was a good weekend. Our win against the Rhinos was huge and the draw against the Lions was a great test which stood up to with flying colours. Having lost twice to the Marauders in Middlesbrough with a severely weakened line, the Storm may well find themselves in a dogfight with the Rhinos and Marauders to stay in the top half of the table. If the Lions concede games at the Dublin weekend (due to half their squad being in Australia) then we’ll need to hire in Carol Vorderman to work out the maths!

WOLVERHAMPTON LEAGUE WEEKEND; A LIONS PERSPECTIVE (03/03/08)

Wolverhampton is the highest calibre league weekend so far on paper with three of the four top teams on show. What will the Rhinos bring after the longest of pre-seasons? Who will win the battle of the London sides? Read on to find out…..

Lions 51 Bulls 17

Even starting under-pointed didn’t stop Lions from steam-rolling the Bulls. Their more recreational squad lacked pace and knowledge in all positions and which ever line the Lions played made heavy gains. Good to see the Bulls able to field a team after some initial no-shows early in the season. Also worth pointing out that they are lacking their most dominant player (John Burgess) due to injury.

Lions 32 Storm 32

In the most exciting game of the weekend neither team strayed from their start-line. (Lions; Morrison, Brown, Barrow, Hussain. Storm; Collins, Parfitt, Frishberg, Kenyon) For the first half the game stayed dead even before seeing the lead change three or four times, two of those in the last quarter. The gap was never more than two goals and tempers were definitely raised. In the final minutes Storm rallied to take the last possession and draw level with 3.9 seconds on the clock, leaving Lions no option but to concede the draw. Who is the better team? Still no-one knows. Three each in the ASPIRE Cup series and neither side holds bragging rights!

Lions 50 Storm 35

The league is also about development and Storm took this opportunity to blood some of their newer squad members. (Gary Craig, a man to watch in the future!) Due to Steve Palmer’s illness and a smaller player pool Lions were forced to stay full strength which was reflected in the score. The start-line’s again had a spell to match up and guess what…….a goal for goal quarter! Again passions ran high in this game with this fixture showing all the promise that the league’s first real derby should.

Lions 38 Rhinos 28

After seeing Storm beat Rhinos by six earlier in the weekend Lions knew they had the beating of The Midlanders if the kept playing as they had been. Finishing the first three up saw off the Rhinos hi/lo (Ellis, Ash, Kerr, Shaw) and had them use the more conventional 3, 2.5, 2, 0.5 line. However, with the pace of Hussain in the bottom of their line, the Lions love to play against a 0.5. Sloppy play saw the Rhinos give the last two goals on two separate quarters which gave Lions a six goal lead going into the fourth. Playing a  rookie line helped stretch that to a final deficit of ten.

To summarize, this was a very good weekend for Lions. Taking seven points of eight has helped us towards securing a berth in the division one championship weekend. Stand out performer of the weekend was Steve Brown who is really starting to stand up as the number two in the line. Many thanks to everyone who helped make this weekend possible.

Upcoming Events

March 14/16              Bernd Best
March 27/30             Europa Cup

April 4/5                    Stoke Mandeville League - Storm

May 31/June 1          Dublin League – Lions
June6/8                     Low Point Tournament – Copenhagen, Denmark

July 4/6                     National Games – Stoke Mandeville

September 12/16      Paralympics – Beijing, China

October 10/12          Low Point Tournament – Nottwill, Switzerland

The Brentwood Wheelchair Rugby Event – 4th March

London Wheelchair Rugby Club comes to Brentwood! It is in conjunction with Sportessex Disability Sports Academy Club and is aiming to raise the awareness of the sport and to encourage people with disabilities living in Essex and Brentwood to take up a sport. The event is for spectators and open for a taster session immediately after the game.

Activity: Wheelchair Rugby
Date: 4th March
Time: 1.30pm – 4.00pm
Venue: Brentwood Centre, Doddinghurst Road, Brentwood.
 Aspire Cup Competition with small come and try after the game.
The event to be followed by refreshments and a get to know the players in the bar at the Brentwood Centre

Schedule:
Normal training from :                                           12.15 – 1.30pm.
Match : (with spectators)                                     1.30pm – 3pm.
Come and try :                                                        3pm – 3.20pm
Refreshments and chat with players :             3.20pm – 4pm.
Close:                                                                        4pm

Latest Scores From One Day Session @ St Peters, Wolverhampton

London Lions 35 North Wales Dragons 36

Stoke Mandeville Storm 47 Cardiff Pirates 27

London Lions 39 North Wales Dragons 39

Stoke Mandeville Storm 49 Cardiff Pirates 36

GBWR One Day Session
St Peters School, Wolverhampton

09.00am – Hall Opens
10.00am – Lions v Dragons
11.30am – Storm v Pirates

13.00pm – Lunch

14.00pm – Lions v Dragons
15.30pm – Strom v Pirates

17.00pm – Clear Hall

London Boy’s help Great Britain to 5th & 8th Placing at the Demolition Derby International Tournament(6/02/08)

Bryan Kirkland deftly handles the ball over
the heads of the tough Texas Stampede.

The Place (Birmingham, Alabama - Jan 27 - The Lakeshore Demolition win in a resounding sweep of top U.S. club teams and international teams. They were the hometown favorite, and they gave crowds of cheering fans something to scream about.

The tournament featured 12 teams, including five U.S. club teams and international teams from New Zealand, Canada, Britain, Germany and Sweden. The tournament was held at the impressive Lakeshore Foundation and featured 3 courts of metal bashing action.

www.xable.com

 ten games were covered and did several interviews with players in the tournament check it out by clicking on the above link

Demolition Derby 2008 Tournament Results

Final Standings
#1-Lakeshore Demolition
#2-Texas Stampede
#3-New Zealand
#4-Portland Pounders
#5-British Lions
#6-CanadaI
#7-Germany
#8-British Bulldogs
#9-Sweden
#10-SanDiego Sharp Edge
#11CanadaII
#12 - University of Arizona Wildcats

All Tournament Team

Best Offensive Player - Shinichi Shimakawa (Texas Stampede)
Best Defensive Player – Stefan Jansson (Sweden)
Big Hitter-Joel Wilmoth (Lakeshore Demolition)
Best Picker – Jason Roberts (British Lions)
Sportsmanship - Curtis Palmer (New Zealand)
MVP - Mark Zupan (Texas Stampede)

Another day's report...........

Saturday at Lakeshore - one of the toughest days in the rugby calendar. The British Bulldogs were the bottom seeded team and faced Lakeshore, Portland and the British Lions.

Lakeshore are an incredibly strong and heavy hitting team led by Bryan Kirkland and Joel Wilmoth. When we set up a key defense against them they came in tandem and sent many players literally flying. They opened up an early lead but the Bulldogs stayed strong and were able to force themselves through the Lakeshore key defense at almost every attack. The lead remained low but Lakeshore ended comfortable winners at 45-37.

An hour later, the Bulldogs faced the Portland Pounders - one of the strongest US teams. Again they had immense pace and force and were able to force early turnovers. The final score of 48-42 showed that we played with grit and determination. Indeed the Bulldogs played with a smile on their faces, as they matched up and their heads high against many of the worlds top players.

The final game of the day was against the British Lions. It was a hard fought game even though both teams were already limited to the 5-8 play-offs on Sunday. The teams were goal for goal in the first quarter and the Bulldogs went into the half time a goal ahead. As the two teams played different line-ups the Lions pulled ahead and won by 39-36.

All in all an exhausting day, but the Bulldogs played with heart and have greatly enjoyed one of the hardest days in wheelchair rugby. To show the quality of the teams here, our first game tomorrow for the 5th-8th positions is against Canada, the Paralympic silver medallists.

Justin Frishburg

Day 6 (Shotclock friendlies) (23/01/08)

GB Lions V germany .....won by 9 (Ross, Troye, Manny, Jason, Archie, Tony, Tez, Dickie).......Good from the off, Archie in again after illness. High/lo working well, also 3 2.5's strong in the key.
 
GB Bulldogs 45 Sweden 42 (Chris, Ash, Justin, Andy, Josie, Bully, Jonny).....good start but then pegged back. Came back hard at end of 2nd to stretch lead to five or so. Pulled away more in the 3rd but put a very new line on the the 4th and lost a few.

Day 5 report from Andy Barrow (21/01/08)

GB 30 Germany 31 O.T......Not the best performance, a few errors both sides in the first half, turnovers after turnovers etc. Pretty even throughout the game but needed to use timeouts better rather than giving the ball up. Germany kept ball in O.T. and managed to score with 4 secs left.
 
Tournament results
 
1ST GB (4-1)
2ND NZ (4-1).....Lost to GB on head to head
3RD Canada (3-2)
4TH S Florida (2-3)
5TH Sweden (1-4)
6TH Germany (1-4)....Lost to Sweden on head to head

Day 4 London Boys on GB Pre Paralympic Competitions in USA (21/01/08)

GB 36 United Nations 31 (Canda 2 and friends from Japan and S Florida).......Good start with strong key defence, kept pressure on and slowley pulled away.
 
GB 25 Canada 24 ....Very tight game with very few errors either side. Good key defence again. Also some good pressing and hassling. Bit of a wobble in the last quarter (2 straight turnovers) but saw it home in the end.
 
........play Germany tomorrow but think we already have it won on head to head as the Germans lost to Sweden and we've beat both Canada and NZ

GBWR World Bid 2010 (21/01/08)

Unfortunately we have not been successful in winning the 2010 World
Championships, congratulations go to Vancouver, Canada.  We'll post
news on the website shortly.

This has been a huge opportunity for GBWR and only positives can come
about from the experience.  Thanks to all involved.

Day 3, day 1 of mini tourney (21/01/08)

Directive for today.......premium lines, play to win.
 
GB 32 NZ 29......Came our hard in first which shocked them, finished 1st 6-4 up with ball and they used 2 timouts. Continued hard in 2nd, went to half 5 up. 3rd slightly shaky but kept goal for goal in the main. Kiwi's out of timeouts. Looked ragged in last quarter. ross/Troye very tired so lost a couple but still saw off a rattled kiwi team. Very good performance.
 
GB 34 Sweden 31 ... A good start was thrown away in nthe first quarter to go into the second level. But a strong performance from 2.5, 2, 2, 1.5 pushed open a 4 goal lead for the half. GB took the foot off the gas for much of the rest of the game, but the win was always ours.
 
All in all 2 games and 2 wins sets us up nicely for the tournament.
 
Andy (and Justin)

Justin Frishburg - GB, London & Stoke Manadeville Storm (17/01/08)

Yesterday was a three game day for GB, and all pretty toughnbgames. Canada, then Germany and finally NZ. Canada was a scrappy game from both teams where key defense dominated. We were in touching distance going into the fourth but things quickly slipped away and we ended up losing by 32-27.

Germany again was not a polished affair, with both teams running a variety of line ups. Germany went into the fourth with a lead but the lineup of Troye, Ross, Jason and Josie seemed to click against a strong German lineup. They pulled a couple of turnovers back and then scored the last goal to take it into over time. Germany won possesion off the tip
and GB were forced to score the last goal again to take into a second period of overtime. This time we won the tip and controlled the game to win 37-36.

The game against NZ was probably one game too many for us and we never really recovered from a bad start. Again many lines were used but there is a growing sense of desire to put one past the Kiwis who ran home comfortable 28-23 winners.

Weather is overcast but a healthy 69 degrees.

Over and out.

J

Day 1 - Andrew Barrow in the USA playing for GB (17/01/08)

GB 31 NZ 36......Lots of lines run on both sides, should have had a good lead after Q1 but for some un-characteristic errors. Kiwi's were strong through Q2 and 3 using the chemistry among their smaller squad. Lots of reaching during the game, also too mant turnovers on both sides.
 
 
GB 43 Sweden 32......Again ran lots of lines, Sweden didn't have much depth but they started very well. WDe broke them in Q2 and moved away from then on. A more confident performance as the rust came away!
 
Good performance from Bulbul in particular.

London name bernd best team (16/01/08)

Head coach Steve Palmer has named the team to travel to Cologne in March to compete in the Biggest open tournament of the year.The Bernd Best tournament boasts over 40 teams competing in 4 leagues of varying skill and competence.London will be entering into the highest and hardest fought of all of these”The Champions League”.London won the Bernd Best champions league title in 2004 but have let it slip away from them since then.
Head coach Steve Palmer said”We haven’t taken a full strength team to Cologne for last 3 years and although Ive been relatively happy with our performances,we haven’t brought  the trophy back to England.This year We have no exuses we’re taking a big squad and its very strong.Rebel are the current holders and I fully expect to see them in the final”.
The Team.

Jonathan Coggan 0.5
Bulbul Hussain 1.0
Steve Palmer 1.5
Andrew Barrow 2.0
Justin Frishberg 2.0
Troye Collins 2.5
Ross Morrison 2.5
John Parfitt 2.5

London’s Wheels on Fire(16/01/08)

The London team in action during the final

The London team emerged victorious at an international wheelchair rugby competition at Nottingham’s Trent University. The event, which attracted teams from Belgium, Sweden and Wales, was contesting the Trevor Williams Memorial Trophy, recognising the leading sports scientist based at Loughborough University who specialised in disabled sport, and was sponsored by Barratts Solicitors. Involving some of the leading wheelchair rugby players from the United Kingdom and Europe, the competition kicked off with pool games to produce winners to compete in the final. With the competition being held over a three day period, a demonstration event was held with some of the Nottingham RFC 1st XV having a go against a Barbarians team from the competing squads. The tournament itself produced a superb display of international wheelchair rugby. With the tactical use of the sin binning of opponents and blocking of players, this showed the many spectators how tactically aware players have to be at this level. The final was contested by London and Belgium, with London claiming the honours at 31-29. Presentations were made by the sponsors and councillors representing Nottinghamshire County Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council. It is hoped to expand the competition to 10 teams in two years time after the Beijing Games , where the Great Britain team can be followed with regular updates on www.gb-rugby.com.

Andy Barrow on wheelchair rugby (5/01/08)

Just six years after taking up wheelchair rugby, Andy Barrow represented Great Britain at the highest possible level - the 2004 Paralympics in Athens.
Barrow reveals his passion for the game and how he first got involved.

I've always been a keen sportsman. I grew up playing football, rugby and cricket and also enjoyed swimming.
In 1997 I broke my neck in a scrum, which left me paralysed from the chest down.
It was during my rehabilitation that I discovered wheelchair rugby. Someone told me about it while I was in hospital and when I left I started training with a London club.
The game was difficult to pick up at first, but I had lots of encouragement. Like anything, the more I played the more I learned.
Wheelchair rugby is still a relatively small sport. The GB squad is quite small and we're all very good friends.
Our training is split between court sessions, weights, skill sessions and a bit of swimming.
When we're not training together, we're expected to duplicate the sessions on our own. In total I spend about five days a week in training.
Injuries permitting, it's possible that I could carry on playing until I'm 40. Once I've finished, I'd definitely look at going into coaching.
I've already done a bit of work with the GB Development squad and there are some good new players coming through.
We have a very good development system and our newer players are getting coached very well.
A lot of guys with spinal injuries play our sport, so many of them won't have been in a wheelchair long. The youngest players in wheelchair rugby tend to be aged 16-23.

Ireland dominant in Four Nations (14/12/07)

Ireland edged out Scotland to claim the Home Nations wheelchair rugby triple crown in Bath.
The Irish team dominated the tournament's group stage and with Wales struggling because they were missing key players, the second place in the final hung on the outcome of the England versus Scotland game.
Defending champions England led by four points at half-time but a brilliant fightback saw Scotland recover for a dramatic one-point victory.
England saw off Wales in the third place play-off before attention turned to the final in which Ireland gained an early two-point lead and were never behind as they claimed an assured win against a brave Scottish side.
Players from the four teams involved in the tournament will now join together as Great Britain to prepare for the Beijing Paralympics.
Highlights of the tournament, meanwhile, will be shown at Twickenham during Six Nations championship matches early next year.

Cardiff Weekend - Lucy Robinson

All packed and ready to rumble, I leave uni and head west on the M4, to Cardiff and my first rugby league game. After an hours accidental sightseeing tour round cardiff and it's castle we finally arrive at the hotel. Expecting for the bar to be busy and a cold beer for me on the table, I greet Archie and Andy (fellow players), drop my bags and head to the bar! it's empty, obviously professional rugby players don't drink the night before a game....opps. So I have some dinner and call in for an early night.

Saturday morning, up for breakfast and then across to Cardiff Sports Center for our games. Three in total, two against the Nottingham Mauderers and one against the Cardiff Pirates. We start with a game against the Mauderes, on our team is Steve Palmer or Archie (it's something to do with an archer fish), Andy Barrow, Ross Morrison, Neil Roffery, Steve Brown (Brownie)
and myself, Lucy Robinson. After a warm up and some macho ritual involving sitting in a circle and shouting 'LONDON' at the top of your voice, we're off. It's a clean, fun and harmless game which we eventually win. Our second game is against the pirates, it's a more difficult game in which we need a bit of the Andy and Ross 'bulldozzer' to steal us the game with a little help from a small goal from myself....Whoo! The third is against the Mauderers again but we're all tired by now; it's a messy game, slightly heated in places but in the end we won the game then an exhausted team packed up, said goodbyes and made speedy get-aways.

On reflection I had a wonderful time, enjoyed each game and felt very much part of our team, of which i am very proud to be included.

Thankyou