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Amongst Europe's Finest The second European Cup Wheelchair Rugby Tournament was held at the Morley
Leeds Leisure Center on the weekend of March 20th-22nd. The Europa Cup invites the
National Champion of each country to compete for the Cup. The The first upset came when Finland surprised Holland's Crashing Dream team which had five National team members playing for them. The Fins won 45-43 which meant the Dutch would have to beat Sweden's Pick Pack who was seeded 2nd and Germany who lost to Sweden by thirteen on the opening night. Day two followed with another upset as the Flemish Lions from Belgium became the first team to beat the Birmingham Bandits in three years. That streak had been kept alive even through Darren Ransome's absence to the U.S. Rugby League. Former Tampa Generals and USA Coach Terry Vinyard now coaching the Flemish Lions had their sights set on winning pool A. A major glitch was thrown at them when the Bandits protested one of the Belgium players classification. Class 3.0 Bob Vanacher went down to a 2.5 in the Dutch league but could not play as a 2.5 in this International tournament. Unfortunately fore Belgium their was not a functional panel despite being a sanctioned event. The protest was ruled in favor of the Bandits and the game was to be replayed later Saturday afternoon. The Lions survived their lineup change and narrowly defeated London 33-29 in a game that was tied in the 4th period. Germany's Heidelberg and Pick Pack were taking care of business in Pool B to assure themselves spots in the Semi-Finals. The rematch in Pool A between the Bandits and the Lions would now determine the pool A championship. The Lions now playing with a new line up and only 7 1/2 points miraculously pulled out another upset of the Bandits by winning 26-24. The Bandits and Lions three game schedule on Saturday may have taken something out of both squads as they faced difficult cross-overs Sunday morning. In a close battle throughout the Lions of Germany scored a narrow 31-29 victory over the Lions of Belgium. On Court two Pick Pack the number two seed had to go to over time to beat the Bandits by a score of 37-36. That assured that there would be a new Europa Cup Champion. In final placing games London's Broncos sympathetically defeated Ireland 31-22. The Irish showed improvement each game but were far outclassed in this tournament of Champions. Holland was able to get revenge against the Finland team as they took fifth place with a 49-31 victory. The Bandits also avenged earlier losses to the Flemish Lions with a 29-27 win that was good for a bronze medal. Keeping the revenge theme alive, the Germans would have to make up a thirteen goal margin against Sweden. They did that and more as they won by ten, 42-32. That represented a 23 goal swing between the two games. This was with the exact same personnel. All-Tournament Team Story and results provided by Quad Rugby Today Next Issue - World Championships
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London Broncos, Finland, and Ireland also brought teams who rounded out the
field although they were not National Champions. Finland played with High pointer Loa
Rissmar on loan from Sweden while the Broncos were added to round out the field.
Notably Ireland rolled into a buzz saw for their competitive debut. Needless to say
they didn't win a game during the weekend but learned a lot and were named the most
sporting team. 