Last Sunday saw the Lions take to the court again in the second round of the WR5’s Premiership League at Stoke Mandeville. The Lions improvement between the last two rounds has been huge and tremendously pleasing with the performance across all games. Our results were very much closer this round, taking all teams close and recovering from a 7 point deficit against the Maulers at half time.
Results from Round 1:
Lions V Ospreys – 14-21
Lions v Maulers – 14-19
Lions v Hawks – 6-21
Lions v Leicester Tigers – 9-21
Results from Round 2 (Sunday 31/10/21):
Lions v Ospreys – 10-16
Lions v West Country Hawks – 18-20
Lions v Stoke Mandeville Maulers – 16-18
Lions v Tigers – 10-19
Rob Emery said “They can have more talent and speed but it’s proper hard to beat someone that doesn’t give up. It’s like Rocky Balboa says, it’s not about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep getting up. That’s how winning is done!! Our time in the sun will come soon, let’s keep hustling Lions.”
Tremendous efforts yesterday at Stoke Mandeville. Much improved performance and so we look forward to the final leg at the end of this month.
The WR5s Summer League runs during the Super Series off season, meaning that wheelchair rugby is played throughout the year. Those that are observant will see numbers of the back of the players chairs in the image above. This is to categorise the players into functional ability. The WR5’s has a different system to that of the Paralympic version, allowing more abled players to play, the principles are very similar
In Paralympic wheelchair rugby, players are assessed into seven classes: 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 points. The lower level points indicate less functional ability and the higher points indicate greater functional ability. Men and women both play the sport, and they play on the same team. There are no separate events for men and women.
Only four players are on the court at any given time. The total points on the floor for a team cannot exceed 8, but this maximum is increased by 0.5 points for every female on the court. This is done in order to insure parity in athletic ability on the court at any given time.
In the WR5’s, 5 players allowed on court at anyone time with a total of 10 points allowed.
This Sunday the Lions are hosting a taster session for both Senior and Cubs players. We welcome anyone with any disability, you don’t have to be a wheelchair user! The taster session takes place at Rossmore Leisure Centre, Poole. The Senior’s (18 and over) starts at 10:30 whilst the Cubs (8-17) starts at 1pm.
We will be welcoming members and veterans from Help for Heros some of which will be trying wheelchair rugby for the first time. Lastly we would like to make a give a special thank you to our sponsors Grinning Dog records. We look forward to seeing you.
