Tyndall College hosts Wheelchair Rugby League Interpros
Melanie Griffith has a word with the Leinster team prior to their Leinster Wheelchair Rugby League match against a ‘Select’ team in Tyndall College, Carlow. Photo: michaelorourkephotography.ie
Tyndall College hosted the Interprovincial Wheelchair Rugby League matches recently where Leinster played Munster and a Selected side consisting of players from Connacht and Ulster.
On Sunday, the Irish Wheelchair Team trained in preparation for the Celtic Cup competition which they won for the first time last season. Carlow player, Melanie Griffith, was on both the Leinster and Irish teams so she had a busy two days. The sport is hugely popular among wheelchair users and the Carlow player says the situation is changing where Irish players had to go to England to play.
“Training is in Ireland. Games are in Ireland and now these players have to get the planes instead of us,” says Griffith.
“The overall is to develop the sport here. It is so new here. A lot of the players here are English based with an Irish heritage so we used to have to collect them from the airport. The team used to be nearly all English based training in England but we have a lot more Irish based players now,” notes Griffith who played badminton with Ireland and also, in her own words, plays “lots of basketball.” She is also in her final year in Trinity where she is studying Microbiology.
The Selects team comprised of players from Connacht and Ulster who are not as far advanced in their organisations as the Munster and Leinster teams are. The still managed to beat the two provincial teams while Leinster won the bragging rights by beating Munster.
Phil Roberts is from Wigan but is training the Irish Rugby League Wheelchair team. He wasn’t always wheelchair bound. As his problems with his hip became more challenging he was forced to make a call which saw him use a wheelchair.
“A sporting life which I would not have had otherwise. Travelling all over the place,” he says.
Roberts is happy to travel to Ireland regularly. The side is ranked third in the world. After the interprovincial matches, all eyes will turn to tough training and their attempt to retain the Celtic Cup which is being hosted in Cardiff in 2025.
“Last year we played several matches winning the Celtic Cup which is an annual competition including Scotland and Wales. We played two test matches at the end of the year against France who are the world ranked number two side. We won one and lost one. We are third in the world rankings which is the highest we have ever been,” Roberts explains. He points out that the players are fiercely ambitious.
“We have a young, enthusiastic side. What we are doing now is training this week, in March and in early May in preparation for the Celtic Cup at the end of May in Cardiff.”
Melanie Griffith was the connection which saw the training coming to Carlow Town. This worked for everyone as Roberts acknowledged.
“What we want to do is embrace the communities that our players are involved in. We have a player that goes to Munster Technical University who lives in the area. We had some domestic matches in Tralee and now with Mel in Carlow. We are back in March and May. It is a really good area. The facilities are fantastic. We have players from the Dublin area, players in Cork, Limerick and Kerry and Carlow is fairly central,” says the Ireland team coach.
