Team UK Invictus Wheelchair Rugby Team 'Can Go All The Way'

The coach of Team UK's Invictus Games wheelchair rugby team believes his side are a "very good team" that "can go all the way".

At the 2017 Invictus Games the team finished second with Denmark picking up the gold medal.

However, the team this year are looking to go one better as the Games in Sydney, Australia, draw ever closer. 

Speaking to Forces News at a game against Welsh outfit, RGC, coach Paul Jenkins said:

"I think we can go all the way.

"I think this team [is a] very good team...a very good team.

"We've got some players who are not here and who will come in and enhance it as well.

"This is a very good team this year, I'm very impressed with them I must admit."

The team's captain, Clive 'Smudge' Smith, echoed his coach's words.

"We wouldn't be going there to make the numbers, we're going there to compete, we're going there to show the rest of the world what we can do and hopefully we can come away with a gold," he explained. 

The Invictus Games, designed by HRH the Duke of Sussex, gives injured, wounded or sick personnel or veterans the chance to compete on an international stage.

For Smith, who lost both of his legs whilst serving as a Bomb Disposal Officer in Afghanistan, wheelchair rugby gave his life new direction. He said: "It's a whole new thing for me - I was a football boy through and through that was my sport but obviously, it's a lot more difficult to find a wheelchair-adapted variant for football.

"But as I say, it's a sport I love, keep enjoying and keep on coming back to every week."

Wheelchair rugby was originally known as “Murderball” because of its physical and aggressive nature but Team UK's Pete Dunning said "it's not as scary as what you think".

The 2018 Invictus Games begins on 20 October and ends on 27 October. 

Overall, there are 11 different sports in the Games from archery to sitting volleyball and swimming.