Batt celebrates birthday with Steelers victory

NSWIS wheelchair rugby star Ryley Batt has celebrated his 27th birthday by helping the Australian Wheelchair Rugby team, The Steelers, to a 57-49 victory against Great Britain in the final of the Four Nations tournament in Chiba, Japan. 

Taking on he Great Britian, Team USA and Japan at the tournament, the event was marked as one of the toughest tests for the Aussies as they build towards the defence of their Paralympic wheelchair rugby title won in London four years ago. 

Despite being the current world and Paralympic champions, the Steelers came into the tournament ranked fourth in the world, however left as top dogs from the event that had four of the top five ranked nations in the world competing. 

It wasn’t just birthday celebrations that made the final special for Batt, he was also a major player in the Aussie charge that carried the Steelers to an emphatic eight goal victory after they had led 28-24 at the half time break. Post game coach Brad Dubberley praised the Aussie side’s progress as they eye off their Rio campaign. 

“That was a really tough tournament. It mentally and physically drained us all, but it was great to get the result,” Dubberley told Australian Paralympic Committee media. 

“We’re really gathering momentum now for the Canada Cup and the Paralympics. It’s a huge result here to send a message to the rest of the world.”

While the London Paralympics may be something of a distant memory now, the 12-man Steelers squad for the Four Nations featured seven members from the gold medal winning team. 

Included in the five new recruits for this year was fellow NSWIS athlete Andrew Edmondson.