Last Tuesday and Wednesday at the Welsh Institute of Sport in Cardiff, GBWR rolled our their new “Powerplay” scheme for the second time. The concept is simple; take players of all ability levels from across the UK, divide them up into teams and play Rugby!

Over fifty players attended in total and for many it was a chance to play alongside more experienced/established GB squad members and be put through their paces with “elite standard” warm-ups and drills. While one court focussed on the squad selected for the forthcoming “Super Series”, the other concentrated on developing new talent at a grass-roots level.

Both days saw some great competition as well as a lot of enjoyment from everyone involved, guaranteeing “Powerplay’s” inclusion in GBWR’s plans up to London 2012. GBWR’s Chief Executive “David Pond” was in attendance throughout and, among other things, oversaw the signing of the Elite Squad’s “Athlete Agreements”. These are our contracts, which outline things such as adherence to training programmes and general codes of conduct. Basically they make us accountable to you, the general public, to use any money given to us from the government in the correct and proper way.

After Cardiff, attentions quickly turned towards Australia and despite a few travel disruptions, (something about a Volcano!) we took to the air as planned on Thursday evening. After an overnight stay in Singapore, we boarded yet another plane to take us down to Sydney and I’m currently somewhere over the Indian Ocean, about four hours from the end of a very long journey!

The “Super Series” is a four-team tournament between Australia, New Zealand, Canada and us (Great Britain). Each will play eight games over five days; a pretty punishing schedule designed to replicate the World Championship format. The venue… “Olympic Park” in Sydney, the site of the immensely successful Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2000.

So, what’s the opposition like and who are the ones to watch… Australia are a steady team headed by one standout member. “Ryley Batt” (3.5) is without doubt the most dominant player in the game today. He brings huge physicality combined with amazing agility and it’s not uncommon to see him break double or even triple teams to receive the ball and take it coast to coast. However, one man doesn’t make a team and 0.5 “Naz Erdem” often lays the pick to unlock the door for Ryley.

New Zealand don’t set the world on fire but their strength lies in the fact that they have great chemistry when they play and make very few mistakes. “Dan Buckingham” (3.0) has a great set of hands and is the team’s focal point while “Tim Johnson” (2.0) brings order and plays with intelligence on court that’s rarely matched. Paralympic champions in 2004, New Zealand will be no push over.

Canada have the most depth of the four teams right now. 3.0 “Fabien Lavoie” has speed to burn while “Patrice Simard” (1.5) is one of the world’s best low-pointers. I could list many more on the roster but the man pulling all the strings right now is head coach “Kevin Orr”, who has brought a fierce tenacity to the Canadian defence since he joined them in 2009. Expect a lot of noise from these guys’ bench at all times!

Finally GB bring a mixed bag with them to Australia. Exciting new talents like “Dave Anthony” and “Steve Brown” suit up next to big game players like “Ross Morrison” (all 2.5’s), while veteran “Bulbul Hussain” (1.0) is playing the best Rugby of his career right now. With two new high-pointers in “Ayaz Bhuta” (3.0) and “Aaron Phipps” (3.5) our squad will surely hold the most surprises at this year’s Super Series.

Games begin next Wednesday (28th April) with highlights of the finals even being aired on Australian TV on Sunday night. I’ll try to post as and when I can and expect a full report in due course, but to keep up to date with news and score as they happen, follow the link below…

http://www.paralympic.org.au/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=089c0ea0-c913-4819-ba41-1f1af892d168