By Ian Golden,
Wales Wheelchair Rugby League have announced their squad ahead of the 4 Nations tournament to be held at Kingsway Park School Leisure Centre, Rochdale on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th September.
Following two training camps Wales Wheelchair RL will be formed from the spine of the team that beat Scotland and Ireland in the Celtic Cup but will include Gary Preece as a debutant.
Wales will be without Head Coach Alana Sargent who has unfortunately had to retire from her role due to illness. The squad wish Alana our very best wishes for a speedy recovery and will be playing the tournament with her as their inspiration. Steve Jones has taken over as head coach for this tournament.
Wales Wheelchair RL, the current Celtic Cup champions take on England, Ireland and Scotland during the two days of the tournament.
Tickets are priced (per day) at £10 for adults, £7.50 concessions and £5 for children under the age of 16. There is also a special family ticket which will allow two adults and up to four children to attend for only £20.
More information is available at http://www.rugby-league.com/leagues__competitions/wheelchair_rugby_league/whrl_four_nations.
The new Wales Presidents’ XIII, launched to bridge the representative gap between the senior side and the Dragonhearts, will be facing West of England Lionhearts in their first ever game this Sunday 25th September at Blackwood RFC (kick-off 2.30pm).
Their 19-man squad has been selected from the up and coming players in Wales who the selectors believe have the potential to be full time professional and to one day win a full Welsh cap.
It’s the brainchild of Paul Emanuelli who has stepped up to the role after coaching the Wales under 18 side in previous seasons.
He said: “Already this side has become very popular. We had 32 players turn up over the three training sessions, who were from eight different clubs and universities.
“I’d like to thank everyone that’s tried out but as always you can only pick 19 for the game.
“Myself, Daf Hellard and Gareth Howells have selected the side that we feel will do the best job for us.
“I’m looking forward to this one off game and thanks again to Will Brewer from the West of England who’s been great sorting the fixture out.
“We hope all the community clubs will get behind this fixture as well as the Dragonhearts game the week after.”
Admission to this game is £2 adults, £1 children.
Wales Dragonhearts have named their squad to take on Devon county at Cardiff Metropolitan University on Sunday 2nd October (kick-off 2pm).
The representative side for the non-professional players playing domestically in Wales, this fixture will be a warm up game before the training squad will be reduced to 22 players for their upcoming trip to Germany.
Currently the squad stands at over 30 players and they all have impressed in their first session together at Parc Y Scarlets.
Following the fixture a week on Sunday, they will have a final opportunity to impress at a training session on Sunday 9th October.
Coach Dafydd Hellard said: “We reaped the benefits from Wales Rugby League’s new link with the Scarlets last weekend as we had an intense and very physical session at the Parc y Scarlets Training Barn and a gruelling session with Crossfit Llanelli.
“All the players were put through their paces and showed an amazing amount of work ethic as they all fight for a place to go on the trip to Germany.
“The Dragonhearts staff would like to thank both the Scarlets and Crossfit Llanelli for the use of their facilities. We were very pleased with the attitudes and effort from every single player and I’m sure they’ll now want to prove themselves in the match against Devon County.”
Admission to this game is £2 adults, £1 children.
WALES WHEELCHAIR SQUAD v ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, IRELAND
Mark Williams (Captain – North Wales Crusaders)
Stuart Williams (Vice Captain – North Wales Crusaders)
Martin Beddis (North Wales Crusaders)
Alan Caron (North Wales Crusaders)
Andrew Rhys Higgins (North Wales Crusaders)
Harry Jones (North Wales Crusaders)
Gary Preece (Hereford Harriers)
Geraint Price (Hereford Harriers)
James Roberts (North Wales Crusaders)
Gary Taylor (North Wales Crusaders)
WALES PRESIDENTS XIII (19-man squad) v WEST OF ENGLAND LIONHEARTS
Ben Jones (Valley Cougars, South Wales Ironmen)
Dale Tucker (Torfaen Tigers)
Dean Higgs (Valley Cougars)
Ethan Coombes (Valley Cougars, South Wales Ironmen)
Harry Boots (West Wales Raiders)
Huw Parkes (Bath & Wiltshire Romans, South Wales Ironmen)
Jake Thomas (Aber Valley Wolves, South Wales Ironmen)
John Lloyd (Bridgend Blue Bulls)
Lee Goddard (Valley Cougars)
Lewis Hughes (Bridgend Blue Bulls, South Wales Ironmen)
Luke O’Driscoll (Bridgend Blue Bulls)
Mike Edwards (Torfaen Tigers, South Wales Ironmen)
Mike Hurley (Valley Cougars)
Morgan Jefferies (West Wales Raiders)
Rhys Gant (Aber Valley Wolves, South Wales Ironmen)
Shane Lee (Valley Cougars, South Wales Ironmen)
Tom Davies (North Wales Crusaders)
Wes Cunliffe (Torfaen Tigers)
Zak Williams (South Wales Ironmen)
WALES DRAGONHEARTS SIDE v DEVON COUNTY
- Louis Ford (Swansea University)
- Jamie Marsh (Valley Cougars)
- Josh Taylor (West Wales Raiders)
- Sam Baker (Torfaen Tigers)
- Mathew Davies (West Wales Raiders)
- Curtis Ford (West Wales Raiders)
- Bradley Williams (Cardiff City RL)
- Louis Pengelly (C) (Torfaen Tigers)
- Kieron Hooper (Bridgend Blue Bulls)
- Rhys Davies (Valley Cougars)
- Jonny Rae (Chester Gladiators)
- Craig Lewis (Valley Cougars)
- Aaron Lewis (West Wales Raiders)
- Scott Giles (VC) (Valley Cougars)
- Ross Price (Valley Cougars)
- Daf Phillips (West Wales Raiders)
- Ben Swift (Swansea University)
- Yousif Sulliman (Valley Cougars)
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