Great Britain have announced their team to face seven of Europe’s best wheelchair rugby nations at the 2023 European Championships, due to be held 3-7 May at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
North East Bulls WRC are thrilled to hear that Coral Batey has been selected as part of Great Britain’s 11-athlete team heading to the tournament in the hope of restoring their title as European champions. Great Birtain have had a lot of success at previous tournaments and have been crowned champions of Europe a record breaking seven times! The team narrowly missed out on their eighth win at last year’s instalment in Paris where the home nation, France, were too strong for the GB team after winning 44-43 in a thrilling final.
Coral’s return to international wheelchair rugby comes off the back of her selection to the first womens team to represent GB in a wheelchair rugby tournament, the team competed at the Womens Cup which took place in Paris on 9-11 March 2023.
Coral helped the GB team to victory, winning all their games including a history making first of its kind game between GB and Canada where they played the first ever international game between two female-only wheelchair rugby teams.
Included in the squad also is club stalwart and ex-player, Jack Smith MBE, who will be taking part in his second European Championship competition. Jack trains with the club on a weekly basis but joins GBWR Premiership outfit, Leiciester Tigers, for domestic competitions.
Everyone at the North East Bulls will be cheering Coral and Jack on as they take to the court in Cardiff and we encourage you all to join us! You can buy tickets here.
The team representing Great Britain at WREuro23 is:
| Player | Classification | Club |
| Stuart Robinson | 3.5 | West Coast WRC |
| Aaron Phipps | 3.5 | London WRC |
| Jamie Stead | 2.5 | Leicester Tigers WRC |
| Gavin Walker | 2.0 | Leicester Tigers WRC |
| Kieran Flynn | 2.0 | Leicester Tigers WRC |
| David Ross | 2.0 | London WRC |
| Coral Batey | 2.0 | North East Bulls WRC |
| Nick Cummins | 1.5 | Leicester Tigers WRC |
| Jack Smith | 0.5 | Leicester Tigers WRC |
| Daniel Kellet | 0.5 | West Coast WRC |
| Jonathon Coggan | 0.5 | London WRC |
Read more on the announcement and hear what some of the players and staff have to say on the GBWR website – here.
