Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Hellfire finish runners-up
Wheelchair rugby
Canterbury’s Hellfire wheelchair rugby squad capped a memorable season by finishing as runners-up in the National Shield.
The result came on the back of the team’s promotion to the top flight of the BT Super Series after winning Division 2.
For the shield, the best teams in Division 2 were joined by the bottom two in Division 1 in a competition which would provide the Hellfire players with a litmus test ahead of next season.
Also present was Great Britain coach Paul Shaw who sat on the sidelines, offering extra help while keeping an eye out for potential future stars.
Canterbury opened their campaign against a Division 1 Crusaders side whose line-up included one-time Canterbury players Dave Goddard and Mick O’hanlon.
Hellfire – missing the injured Brian Pitchford (pictured) – were outstanding in the first half and went into the second half leading by five. However, Justin Frishberg came on for Steve Palmer to reinvigorate Crusaders and the outcome was in the balance until the final moments before Hellfire won 42-41.
Hellfire then triumphed 59-49 over a combined Gloucester/ West Country Hawks, led by Ollie Mangion.
Canterbury’s third match was against West Coast Burn – the only team to beat Canterbury in the regular season – and they were relieved to hang on at 42-41 after being six goals clear with just under six minutes to play.
Opposing star player Josh Wheeler was completely marked out of the game by Harry Langley and David Barber but in the closing moments, Hellfire hit trouble.
Their attack stalled and poor inbounds and dropped passes started to creep in, allowing Burn to cut the deficit to just two with 15 seconds left.
Another errant pass saw Burn score again but with eight seconds left, Steve Brown used all his experience, receiving the ball and holding on to it to secure victory. Canterbury, though, were unable to do themselves justice in the final against North East Bulls as they went down 54-41 – only the third time they had been beaten all season.
The opening quarter was a cagey affair and defensively North East were a well-oiled unit containing dangermen Brown and Mangion well.
They reached half-time up at 28-24 and then enjoyed a 5-0 run which subdued Canterbury who became frustrated.
Defeat in the final was disappointing but Hellfire had much to be proud about.
Players’ player Harry Langley and coach’s Player David Barber picked up best 0.5 and best 1.5 in class respectively while Brown won overall Most Valuable Player.