England Deaf in action against Wales

England were competitive but still suffered a third consecutive defeat against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park in late January.  Fletcher identified the scrum as a weakness for England in that match but has spent time addressing that weakness.

“We have trained well, we have worked on our weaknesses from the last game,” Fletcher said.

“Wales were quick to highlight their dominance in the scrum, we have quietly improved further in our dominance in the line out.   “We believe we deserve the 50/50 position from set piece play but now want to achieve more from our weak elements at Cardiff. Specific forward training sessions have been extremely important to the build up to this game.

“More than anything we need to be more competitive and aggressive at every phase of the game. We believe and know that we can win, we need to do the simple things effectively and aggressively at all times.”

England have included four new caps in their squad for Sunday’s Deaf International which was selected after an internal trial match.

“For the first time ever our squad is strong enough to play a Possibles against Probables fixture. This was extremely successful and has led us to the selected team for Sunday,” Fletcher said.

As well as coaching England Deaf, Fletcher has been active in promoting Deaf Rugby through social media which has helped to increase the playing base, particulalrly in the South West.

“We have continued to grow and our growth into the South West has definitely made us a stronger squad of players. The next step is to promote ourselves as strongly in the North of England and strengthen this squad further,” he said.

“It is a privilege to be the head coach of England Deaf. We are in new exciting territory with the RFU and our current bond between the players and officials is electric.    “We know we are on the up, we know we are on the way to fulfil our plan to be the best deaf rugby nation in the world.   “We are now not maintaining or taking small steps, we are now taking large steps in the right direction and with this squad of players and unbelievable talented and committed team of coaches and officials from kit to medical there is a true bond.”

The England Deaf Rugby Union was formed in 2003 to give deaf and hard of hearing players the opportunity to represent their country.
 
Players are eligible to play for the England Deaf team if they have a combined average hearing loss of 25 decibels or more in both ears, which roughly translates to a minimum hearing loss in both ears or a moderate hearing loss in one ear, but can hear normally in the other.

Get involved. Visit www.englandrugby.com/myrugby to find your local club.

England Deaf

15 Guy Lavery (unattached); 14 Adam Faulkner (Oswestry), 13 Cameron Roberts (Hartpury College), 12 Ben Jordan (Penryn), 11 Callum Gill (Exeter College); 10 Tom Bridgeman (Kettering), 9 Oli Fountain (Hitchin); 1 Matt Madsen (Cannock), 2 Ollie Evans (Lydney), 3 Joshua Sprules (Bletchley), 4 Jake O’Leary (Henley Hawks), 5 Kris Mannering (Guildford), 6 Paul Lawrence (Okehampton), 7 Luke Cheyne (Barkers’ Butts – captain), 8 Aaaron Beesley (Hove).

Replacements: Tom Cowdale (Dudley Kingswinford), Richard McFie (Oswestry), Paul Cooper (Thurrock), Ryan Arbon (Hitchin), Ben Trevaskis (Penryn), Daniel Rowland (Pendle Phoenix), Sam Scadeng (Sutton Coldfield), Max Thorne (Dunstablians).