England Beat Ireland 68-32 to Top Their Wheelchair World Cup Group and Set Up a Semi-Final Against Australia
England’s wheelchair team came from 20-4 down to beat Ireland 68-32 in Wollongong on Friday and finished top of Pool A with three wins from three.
The defending champions now play the hosts, Australia, in Tuesday’s semi-final. Ireland are in the other one, against France.
How Ireland gave England a fright
England had beaten Wales 98-18 and the USA 134-0 in their first two games. Ireland were a different test. They led 14-0 and then 20-4 in the first half, and Ireland scored straight back after Lewis King had got England on the board, the Yorkshire Post reported.
Tries from Joe Coyd, King and Rob Hawkins turned it round, and England went into half-time 22-20 up. After the break they scored 40 points in a row before Ireland crossed again, the BBC reported.
Coyd, who plays for London Roosters, finished with four tries. Hawkins, the Halifax player who scored 11 tries against Wales in the opening game, added a hat-trick. Mason Billington and King both scored twice, and Jack Brown got the other one.
Two brothers on opposite sides
Brown’s try had a story behind it. His brother, Joe Calcott, plays for Ireland, and both of them scored at opposite ends of the court in the closing stages. Calcott’s try was his 14th of the tournament.
“I’m extremely proud of Joe,” Brown told the Yorkshire Post. “I love his dedication to this Ireland set-up as well. It brings me a lot of joy seeing him happy with his team-mates playing how he is. We made it a real family affair. It warms the heart.”
What England said
Captain Lewis King was pleased with the result, less so with the performance. “We knew it was going to be a challenge and our biggest in the tournament so far but that is why we are here. We love these high-pressure games,” he told Premier Sports.
“We won’t be particularly pleased with our performance today. Our standards are higher. We topped the group and that was the first aim.”
Coach Tom Coyd said the scare would help. “The fact that we’ve been put under a serious amount of pressure excites me because it hardens us for the next battle. There’s no doubt we’ll be better prepared for the semi-final because of the test we’ve been put through. Bring it on.”
The semi-finals
Australia lost 69-34 to France on Friday, their first defeat of the tournament, so the French top Pool B. France also beat Australia in the 2022 semi-finals, 84-40, before England beat them in the final.
Both semi-finals are on Tuesday 10 November. France v Ireland kicks off at 6.15am in the UK (5.15pm in Sydney), and England v Australia at 8.45am UK time (7.45pm in Sydney). Premier Sports shows England’s game in the UK. Our guide to watching the World Cup covers other countries.
It is Ireland’s first semi-final since the wheelchair World Cup began in 2008, NRL.com reported. In the other final-round games, Scotland beat New Zealand 62-18 for their first World Cup win, and Wales beat the USA 92-18. Those four play off for fifth to eighth on Monday.
