Author : England Rugby League

England have named their 10-man team for next Saturday’s Wheelchair Rugby League International against Wales in Sheffield – when the players will be using new Rugby League Elite Wheelchairs manufactured by the sports wheelchair specialists RGK for the first time in competition as they continue preparations for this autumn’s World Cup.

Adam Rigby of Leyland Warriors, Josh Butler of Leeds Rhinos and Rob Hawkins of the Halifax Panthers, the reigning Young Wheelchair Rugby League Player of the Year, are the three inclusions who were not involved in England’s successful tour of Australia in late 2019.

Butler is one of four Rhinos players in the squad, alongside Nathan Collins, Tom Halliwell and James Simpson, and Hawkins is joined by his Panthers team-mate Wayne Boardman.

The Kent-based Argonauts are represented by Joe Coyd and Lewis King, and the team is completed by Sebastien Bechara, who was born in Nottingham and now plays in France for the Catalans Dragons.

Tom Coyd, the England Head Coach, said: “Our season and preparation is building nicely. The whole of the National Performance Squad put in a huge personal effort over the pandemic period and improved in every dimension. Since we came back to training together in March this year, we have made big improvements every time we get together at practice.

“Team selection was a real challenge. Our game is evolving and we are testing ourselves, pushing the boundaries of how the game has been played and evolving the sport. Players have to be flexible and be able to fit into the playing style.

“Wales will give us a great challenge and enable us measure progress. Each player who has made selection is there on merit and will get a crack in an International Test Match.”

The players in England’s squad were measured for their bespoke chairs by RGK during recent training camps, and Martin Coyd, the General Manager of England Wheelchair RL, is excited by the impact they may have on performance.

“The build-up to the 2021 Rugby League World Cup gives us a wonderful opportunity to test, push and improve everything we do in the game,” he said. “We have built the best possible Coaching and Support Team to give the players the opportunity to be at their best. Great coaching, analysis, medicine, nutrition, sports science, psychology and wellbeing are all playing a big role in incremental improvements across the board.

“We have created partnerships with a fantastic group of sponsors which has enabled us to source a state of the art, made to measure, ergonomic Wheelchair for each player in the RLWC Team.

“RGK make the best wheelchairs in the world and they have developed a Rugby League specific Chair. We believe that this will raise our levels even further and enable the players to feel the benefit of their hard work on and off the field. We are determined to be at our very best come November.”

Dorian Benjamin, the Sales & Marketing Manager at RGK Wheelchairs, said: “Everyone at RGK is absolutely thrilled to be a part of England’s journey to the Rugby League World Cup.

“Over the past year, we have developed a fantastic relationship with the whole national team plus management staff. As a company who is heavily involved with world class level sport, we are very privileged to supply the entire team with our Rugby League Elite Wheelchairs and cannot wait to support their journey to and beyond the World Cup.”

The England squad will use the chairs in a training session this weekend at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, the venue for next weekend’s international, and for several fixtures in the Rugby League World Cup.

England v Wales, English Institute of Sport, Saturday June 26)

Sebastien Bechara – Catalans Dragons
Wayne Boardman – Halifax Panthers
Josh Butler – Leeds Rhinos
Nathan Collins – Leeds Rhinos
Joe Coyd – Argonauts
Tom Halliwell – Leeds Rhinos
Rob Hawkins – Halifax Panthers
Lewis King – Argonauts
Adam Rigby – Leyland Warriors
James Simpson – Leeds Rhinos

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Tom Coyd’s Side Face Wales On Saturday 26 June

England have named a 16-player National Performance Squad to continue preparations for the Rugby League World Cup later this year.

Coaches Tom Coyd and Martyn Rothwell made their selection after last weekend’s season-opening Wheelchair Rugby League 4s in Sheffield – venue for England’s Mid-Season International against Wales on June 26.

The majority of the squad will be in action today, as the 2021 Wheelchair Super League kicks off – with live coverage on Our League and Twitch of the triple header involving Leeds Rhinos, Leyland Warriors and North Wales Crusaders in Preston.

England Wheelchair name National Performance Squad

The Rhinos, who won the Wheelchair Challenge Cup for the first time in 2019, have four players selected – James Simpson, Tom Halliwell, Nathan Collins and Josh Butler.

They will go head to head with Adam Rigby and Declan Roberts of the Leyland Warriors in the last of today’s three games, which will be streamed live on Twitch and Our League, and is scheduled to kick off at 130pm.

Meanwhile in Hull, seven more of the England squad will clash when Halifax Panthers, the reigning Wheelchair Super League champions, take on the Argonauts Skeleton Army from Kent.

Halifax are represented in the NPS by Nathan Mulhall, Wayne Boardman and Rob Hawkins, the Wheelchair RL Young Player of the Year in 2019.

Lewis King, who was the Wheelchair RL Player of the Year for 2019, is one of four Argonauts in the squad with Joe Coyd, James Hazel and Fred Nye.

Warrington’s Lenny Izzard is the only Championship player in the squad, and there are two who are based overseas – Seb Bechara of the Catalans Dragons and Jack Brown, who was the inaugural winner of International Rugby League’s Wheelchair Golden Boot as the best player in the world in 2019, and remains a key figure in England’s World Cup planning despite his recent move to Queensland.

England’s Head Coach Tom Coyd said: “This was a tough selection as the 2020 National Performance Squad worked so hard over the last 18 months, all the way through the adversity in Lockdowns and the suspension of training and games.

I couldn’t have asked for any more and we have improved in many areas.

“We now have an intense month to get ready to perform against Wales in the Mid-Season International, and the pressure is on all of the players to get into the team and deliver against a strong Wales team.

We are excited about the opportunity and very focused on achieving our standards in everything we do.”

Coyd will select a 10-player squad for the Wales match, which will be followed by a week of trials and matches in July before a 10-player World Cup squad is named later in the summer.

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Author : NSWWLRL

NRL Wheelchair Rugby League is pleased to announce the training and development squads, coaches and officials for the 2021 NSW Wheelchair State of Origin that will be held in Sydney during July.

The NSW Wheelchair Blues will be looking at Defending their State of Origin Title after smashing the Queenslanders in their last encounter at the Menai Sports Center, Sydney in 2019

Wheelchair State of Origin coming soon

2021 NSW Wheelchair Blues Training Squad

Brad Grove (Canberra Raiders)
Brett Henman (St George Illawarra Dragons)
Cory Cannane (AB) (St George Illawarra Dragons)
Craig Cannane (St George Illawarra Dragons)
Diab Karim (AB) (Canberra Raiders)
Eddie Morgan (St George Illawarra Dragons)
Edge Iole (Canberra Raiders)
Jason Attard (AB) (Parramatta Eels)
Liam Luff (Parramatta Eels)
Mitchell Stone (Parramatta Eels)
Pele Tosso (Canberra Raiders)
Rick Engles (St George Illawarra Dragons)
Stephan Rochecouste (Parramatta Eels)
Tim Robinson (AB) (Canberra Raiders)

NSW Head Coach: Edie George

Assistant Coach: Doug Adamson
Manager: Cherie Moulang
Trainer: Brad Turnbull

Development Blues

Amro Ibrahim (Penrith Panthers)
Daniel Grech (AB) (Penrith Panthers)
Jeremy Ayoub (AB) (Parramatta Eels)
Joseph Abboud (AB) (Manly Sea Eagles)
Jess iMowczan (Canberra Raiders)

2021 Foxville Queenslanders

Pete Arbuckle (Marlins)
Adam Tannock (Marlins)
Zac Schumacher (Marlins)
Dougie Chan (Water Dragons)
Chris Robson (Water Dragons)
Matty Lodewikus (Crows)
James Hill (Water Dragons)
Shaun Harre (Water Dragons)
Bayley McKenna (Marlins)
Giles Harris (Water Dragons)

QLD Head Coach : Jack Brown

Manager : Jade Brown
Assistant Coach : JJ Atuahiva
Trainer : Peter Angelo

AB= Able Bodied Athletes

Congratulations to all who have qualified and those involved in the organisation of this much-anticipated clash.

Don’t miss this weekends Sydney Wheelchair Grand Finals on Sunday 30th May at the Menai Sports Center, 1st game kicks off at 3:30 PM, see ya’s there

The post NSW & QLD Wheelchair State of Origin Training Squads announced appeared first on OurFootyTeam.

Author : AWRL

The Wheelchair Rugby League Australia (WRLA) board and Head Coach Brett Clark are pleased to announce the appointment of Edie George as Wheelaroos Assistant Coach.

The appointment comes at a time when the Australian representative team is preparing for the journey to the Rugby League World Cup, with games scheduled to be held in the United Kingdom during November 2021.

Edie George’s appointment to the role also comes after an extensive search that attracted a wide range of candidates. WRLA would like to thank all candidates for their time and effort in submissions to the application process.

WRLA Chair Martin Meredith believes that Edie’s appointment will strengthen opportunities for success, commenting, “we look forward to Edie bringing his experience and expertise in support of Head Coach Brett Clark.

Edie George also a Wheelchair Rugby League Player 4th from the Left, Back row after the England v NSW game at the Wollongong Uni in 2019 (Photo : Steve Montgomery)

We believe that our coaching staff’s strength will enhance the development of the talented Wheelaroos team as they prepare for the Rugby League World Cup and beyond”.

Edie George is currently the Head Coach of NSW Wheelchair Rugby League and Chairman of the NSW Wheelchair Rugby League committee.

His appointment as Wheelaroos Assistant Coach is effective immediately.

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