England are Wheelchair Rugby League world champions after Tom Halliwell's 78th-minute try settled a dramatic World Cup final against France at the Manchester Central Convention Complex.
After a series of penalties back and forth, the scores were locked at 24-24 until the England skipper threw a great dummy and burst through a gap in the France defence to clinch a 28-24 success.
The victory sparked emotional scenes among the England squad and staff in front of a world-record crowd of 4,526 people, crowning a competition which has captured the imagination of the world over the past two-and-a-half weeks.
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France were on the board first thanks to a Lionel Alazard penalty after Rob Hawkins played the ball incorrectly, and Alazard was soon over for the opening try after a great passing move to the left. By England struck back on the quarter mark when Seb Bechara threatened the line then fed Tom Halliwell on the next tackle and the skipper scored under the posts to narrow the gap to 8-6.
The champions regained their two-score advantage when Mostefa Abassi made the most of the overlap on the right to touch down, but Jack Brown stormed underneath the sticks after a great reverse-pass by Nathan Collins to ensure there were just two points between the sides at the interval.
And England had their first lead soon after the break as all five players were included in a set move, finishing with Lewis King going in unopposed in the left corner to give the hosts a 16-14 edge. That advantage was extended when Brown went over for a second try after Nicolas Clausells had lost the ball to put his side under pressure, with Collins’ conversion crucially making it an eight-point difference.
Yet the moment France got an opportunity to attack they were over the line, with Nicolas Clausells doing well to keep the ball alive and feed his uncle, Gilles, for a try. And Nicolas then levelled the scores at 22-22 from the tee when England were pinged for a double tackle.
But then Clausells undid his own work by back-chatting after conceding a penalty, putting Collins in range to put England back in front with a penalty from 14 metres. Clausells levelled it up once more from distance with nine minutes remaining as temperatures began to boil over, but missed a two-point shot from 18 metres out after Brown had stripped the ball from Arnau Vargas.
It was then that Halliwell burst through a gap in the centre to win England the World Cup with just two minutes to go.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject to Change
