WHEELCHAIR WORLD CUP GAME 5

Defending world champions England bounced back from their opening defeat to France with a comfortable victory over Ireland who are relegated to the 5^th place playoff.

Joe Coyd was the topscorer with six tries, grounding three either side of the break and Mike Stevenson landed four in the second half to round off the win.

“I thought Ireland played against us pretty well in the opening stages and they kept us pinned but I’m really proud of the guys for putting in a professional job,” said England head coach Mark Roughsedge.

“We’ve got a tough game against Wales coming up and we’ve got to make sure we put that one away and concentrate game on game and just keep on track. We’re really happy with what we’re doing and where we’re going.”

A hat trick from 15 year-old Coyd and a try from Andy Wharton gave England a comfortable 24-4 halftime cushion with Ireland captain Nathan Clarke adding two penalties.

England decided to rest all of their starting players from the defeat to France and in a fairly evenly-matched contest, it was Ireland that took a slender lead after 10 minutes.

The England line was penalized for offside and captain Clarke converted the penalty kick for two points.

However, England responded immediately as Coyd sprinted to the corner on the right hand side for the game’s opening try.

The Medway Dragons player then landed two in quick succession to claim his hat trick with Adam Rigby adding the extras.

England grabbed a fourth try with eight minutes until the break as Andy Wharton dived under the posts and stretched to put the ball on the line.  

Stevenson converted to put the hosts 24-2 in front and Clarke added another penalty to double Ireland’s score at halftime.

Poor discipline from England led to another penalty being converted by the Irish captain Clarke two minutes into the second half but Coyd responded again with his fourth score of the game.

Moments later, Jack Heggie broke through the Irish defence on the halfway line to extend the advantage to 34-6.With 10 minutes gone, England gave away a fourth penalty and Clarke made no mistake from right in front of the posts.

Soon after, Heggie sent Coyd through as he went flying down the wing for his fifth score and Ian Kenny added another try to go 46-8 ahead.

The Irish defence leaked more tries with 15 minutes left as a hat trick from Stevenson and two quick scores from Chris Greenhalgh extended the gap to 64 points.

Stevenson sailed through for his fourth, Heggie touched down for his second try and Coyd coasted through for his sixth try on the final buzzer.

ENGLAND
Chris Greenhalgh, Andy Wharton, Mike Stevenson, Ian Kenny, Jack Brown, Gina Smallwood, Adam Rigby, Phil Roberts, Jack Heggie, Joe Coyd

IRELAND
Rachael Irwin, John McGuire, Vicky Irwin, Damian McCabe, Tom Burns, Jodie Boyd-Ward, Josh Gardner, Nathan Clarke