Jack Brown starred with eight-try haul as England beat Wales 125-22 to book a place against old rivals France in the final of the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup; "It's as big as it gets," says England coach Tom Coyd as he looks forward to the ultimate final
Sunday 13 November 2022 17:30, UK
England ran riot as they beat Wales by a huge margin in the semi-final of the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup in Sheffield on Sunday.
England are set to meet great rivals France in the World Cup final after the French side's victory over Australia in the other semi-final.
England ultimately won 125-22 against Wales to set up a grandstand finale to the tournament.
England's Jack Brown has been one of the players of the tournament and was the player of this match after he scored eight tries.
Although Brown said: "Tries don't count. It's what we're doing together out there that counts."
It was a frustrating day for Wales, who had Gary Preece sin-binned in the final five minutes as tempers frayed. But they did cross for four tries.
England, though, passed triple figures for the third time in the tournament, with Seb Bechara going over four times, Joe Coyd scoring a hat-trick and Robert Hawkins, Lewis King, Nathan Collins, Declan Roberts and James Simpson also adding tries.
Wales had only managed one try in the first half courtesy of Scott Trigg-Turner, and three further efforts from Stuart Williams, Preece and Alan Caron proved in vain.
"We're very disappointed conceding," Brown said. "We've just got to cut out those errors, we can't let a team like Wales be able to bash us about."
That is a sign of his team's high standards. "I think the boys have just been completely ruthless in their goals for this game and improving every single game," he said.
It did not take long for England to click into gear and they scored two tries in quick succession when Bechara twice picked holes in the Welsh defence.
Bechara notched his treble inside eight minutes and England had a fourth try five minutes later, but Wales were not out of the contest and scored a try of their own midway through the half when Trigg-Turner muscled over.
Coyd also grabbed a hat-trick and another three tries were chalked up when Hawkins got in on the act either side of a Brown double.
England were out of sight before the halfway point as Bechara added a fourth to his tally and Brown a further two tries as they continued to breach the Wales defence, with the score 70-6 to the tournament hosts at the interval.
The second half started in similar fashion to the first and Brown wheeled over before Coyd and King put England further in front.
Wales hit back through Preece but another try arrived for Brown before Collins etched his name among the try-scorers.
Skipper Williams scored once more for Wales before Brown wheeled over twice to bring up England's century with a quarter of the game to go and another Welsh effort arrived through Caron.
England's onslaught continued right to the end when Roberts grabbed a try and drop goal. Simpson added insult to injury with another try as the hosts advanced.
"What they're showcasing is we're only getting better and we're ready for this final, we're ready to win this cup," Brown concluded.
England will play France in the World Cup final after the reigning champions beat Australia 84-40 earlier on Sunday in the other semi-final in Sheffield.
France scored an early try through Florian Guttadoro. Although Australia soon hit back, France would eventually take over.
Jeremy Bourson starred for the French, scoring five tries in total, three of them within 17 minutes.
Australia fought back to put some more points on the board in the second half but France have built momentum of their own as they go into the World Cup final clash with England on Friday in Manchester.
The two countries have played each other in the previous two World Cup finals, and France have won both. Now England will meet them once again with it all on the line.
"It's as big as it gets in wheelchair rugby league," said England coach Tom Coyd. "They'll be fancying themselves 100 per cent.
"We think that we've got it in us to beat them on the big stage, in England, with this crowd. We're well placed."
