Pic: TSME Photography
Ireland claimed a ‘three-peat’ in the Wheelchair Celtic Cup, defeating Scotland 70-40 and Wales 50-38 at the Oriam Performance Centre in Edinburgh. In the other clash, Wales just came out on top against the hosts 50-46 in a match decided on goal kicks, in what was acknowledged by all as the best series between the nations in the eleven stagings of the Cup.
Wales fielded two debutants, one of whom, Matthew Turner led the way for Wales with four tries and 12 goals, whilst Sid Ramsey scored a brace of tries in the win over Scotland.
Head coach, Alan Caron, said: “I’m quite happy overall, we looked at two targets, the win over Scotland was the big one and also the margin against Ireland. We achieved both but there is still plenty to work on. Scotland have really stepped up, I was very impressed with the way they looked.
“We saw some fantastic matches and I think we performed well in both. We’ll now be back in training ahead of the World Cup later this year, and the rematch against Ireland will be very exciting.”
Our World Cup starts on Friday 30th October when we take on England. This match is followed by the exciting rematch against Ireland on Tuesday 3rd November, before we face USA on Friday 6th November.
We are guaranteed five matches in the World Cup. Whilst the top two sides in each four-team group go into the semi-finals, there are also ranking matches to decide fifth to eight place. All matches are to be played at the WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong, part of the St George Illawarra Dragons complex, about an hour and a half south of Sydney.
Last Saturday, against Ireland, our opponents took a 16-0 lead, thanks to two tries and two goals from Peter Johnston, and one Joe Calcott try, but the score was 26-22 at half-time. Stuart Williams scored for Wales with an unconverted try on 15 minutes, before Cian Horgan scored Ireland’s fourth with Johnston converting.
Wales made a comeback to level the scores. Matthew Turner scored two tries and converted three times on his international debut, whilst skipper Jodie Boyd-Ward also went over, but an unconverted try from Horgan gave Ireland a slender advantage at the break.
Ireland increased their lead early in the second half, through a Jack Mangan try that Johnston improved before a Williams try and Turner goal brought the score back to 32-28.
Again, the sides swapped tries, with Mangan adding his second and Toby Burton-Carter converting, before Jamie Reynolds scored an unconverted try for Wales, eventually going over for a second.
But two further tries from Calcott, both converted by Burton-Carter sealed the 50-38 win for Ireland.
See further details about the Ireland match here.
In the battle for the silver medal, it was a tense 50-46 win over Scotland, with Turner’s goalkicking the difference as the try count was tied on nine each.
Wales went into a 22-0 lead thanks to two tries and three goals from Turner, with Stuart Williams and Lee Sargent also going over, before an unconverted Dave Hill try on 23 minutes got Scotland on the scoresheet.
But Wales went into the break 34-14 up thanks to tries from Sargent and Jason Reynolds, both converted by Turner, whilst Calum Davidson scored a try and goal for Scotland, with Owen adding a try.
Sargent’s hat-trick try, after just a minute of the second half, converted by Turner, increased the lead to 40-14, and despite a Scottish comeback, Wales held on for victory.
Davidson did most of the damage for Scotland. He ended up with four tries and five goals, the final of both being the last scores of the game with three minutes remaining to set up a nervy climax. Max Owen went over for two more tries with Arran King adding one.
But it was thanks to newcomer Sid Ramsey, who scored his first two international tries, one of which that was converted by Turner, that Wales clinched victory.
See further details about the Scotland match here.
Wales Squad
Jodie Boyd-Ward, Stuart Williams, Mark Williams, Matthew Turner, Sid Ramsey, Lee Sargent, Jason Reynolds, Jamie Reynolds, Harry Mitchell-Jones
