Wales defeated Ireland 67-52 in a warm up game for the Wheelchair World Cup at Calderdale Sports Centre in Halifax. 

Wales’ superior firepower saw them home, Stuart Williams went over for five tries, Stuart Halsey with four and one apiece from Mark Williams and Mason Baker proved decisive, with Halsey adding 11 goals and a drop goal for a total of 39 points. 

“It was a good hit out to take into the World Cup, but credit to Ireland who have improved so much.” noted Wales head coach, Stephen Jones. “We came without four of our squad, but I’m thrilled for Mason Baker who scored on debut and Stephen Halsey’s kicking was on point today, but the whole squad contributed. We’ve got one more warm-up against Australia to go later in the month and we’ll debrief, look at all the positives and how we can control the games as we go into the World Cup.”

Ireland were never out of the contest, with three tries each from Peter Johnson, who also added eight out of nine goals, two from Toby Burton-Carter and one each from exciting 16-year-old debutant Oran Spain and Tom Martin on his home pitch.

Head coach Damian McCabe was buoyed by his side’s performance. “That was one of our best ever performances against Wales” he enthused. “The squad grows together every time we play and improve. We’ve got two players today who have come from Ireland to play and more who will be coming over for the World Cup and they’ve not looked out of place. We’ll iron out a few of the things we’ve learned today before we arrive in London to play Spain in our first World Cup game.”