Female wheelchair rugby player chasing the ball

Maulers come out on top!

8th October 2024

Match report from the Allied Mobility 2024/5 Wheelchair Rugby: Fours Division Two, Tournament One, at Stoke Mandeville Stadium

The new season of wheelchair rugby in Great Britain started with a bang at the home of the Paralympics, Stoke Mandeville Stadium. Division Two of the Allied Mobility Wheelchair Rugby: Fours National competition got the action underway at the end of September. There is an action packed 9 months of wheelchair rugby ahead, before the teams are crowned champions of all the various divisions. Stoke Mandeville felt the fitting place to start the competition. Division Two showcased some of the newer players, teams and officials getting stuck into competitive wheelchair rugby.

Talent Scouting at Division Two

This season sees Cheltenham Tigers, Ospreys, Stoke Mandeville Maulers and Team Solent Sharks all enter Division Two, as well as the Mavericks, which is a mixed team made up of players from across the UK. Not only did they have the opportunity to get stuck into games, but also impress Talent coach; Ayaz Bhuta. Ayaz is part of the coaching staff on the Performance Pathway Programme and he was present to see potential future stars of the game.

Maulers Edge Out Sharks

Stoke Mandeville Maulers started the competition strongly with a statement win over Cheltenham Tigers. Maulers continued this throughout the weekend winning all their games, although Team Solent Sharks ran them the closest in the final game. Unsurprisingly Maulers did well in the awards come the end of the weekend. Sabrin Mehzinev had a really strong tournament for Maulers which was confirmed when he won Most Valuable Player. Both Jamie Evans (0.5) and Kascie Higgins (2.5) winning their respective Best in Class awards for the role they played keeping Maulers unbeaten.

100% Power from Paddy

Team Solent Sharks finishing second this time scored the most tries in one game, but just didn’t have quite enough to overpower Maulers. Patrick Asher-Relf was 100% speed and power throughout the games and Ollie Cole was calm and collected, helping orchestrate the team and win himself Best in Class 3.0.

Sonny Shines for Ospreys

Ospreys kept the Maulers and Sharks in their sights, but had a few players missing for this competition and a lineup that does not have the traditional 3.0 or 3.5 players. Even so, the players they did have made their impression count. Sonny Bassat is growing in confidence with every game he plays and really shone winning Best in Class 2.0. Arran Flay again proved his importance on court winning Best in Class 3.5/4.0. It will be interesting to see how the next competition goes for Ospreys if they have some more players available.

Alex and Luke Partnership

Cheltenham Tigers is a new team in division Two. It was great to see Issy Bailey back in a rugby wheelchair after her exploits in shooting at the Paralympics and Jess Hawkins as a new player. Tigers earned a win against the mixed team and had pivotal support from Alex Smart and Luke Wilson who both took a more offence role than their 1.0 classification would suggest. Luke Wilson subsequently winning Best in Class 1.0 and Kryan Bishop shinning for his Best in Class 1.5.

Scrimmage Team

Special thanks goes to Ian Hosking and Helen Thompson who helped coach the Mavericks. The Mavericks are a mixed team made of players from division two and beyond. Helen Thompson had a busy weekend playing for Mauler’s and coaching the Mavericks. The mixed team is designed to give players more game time and an opportunity to play with players from all over the country.

Thank you officials and volunteers

Lastly a shout out to the Officials and Volunteers who made the weekend happen. Andy Calderbank was awarded Best Official and helped give out the best in class awards to players. It is also great to see two new officials Andrew and Ian be welcomed into the wheelchair rugby community. Hopefully these are the first of many across the season.

The next Division Two event will be the weekend of 2nd and 3rd November at Pond Forge Sheffield. Our next overall competition will be the start of Division One with 8 teams vying for the title at Stoke Mandeville on 19th and 20th October. IT would be great to see you there.