Great Britain’s wheelchair rugby star Jim Roberts led his team past Canada 50-47 before revealing that he has been inspired by his compatriot Alun Wyn Jones, the most capped international rugby union player of all time.
Two-time European champion Roberts, who scored a staggering 27 tries against Canada on Wednesday at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium, was on life support as a teen and stayed in a hospital for two years after contracting meningitis at the age of 19. The effects of the illness resulted in the amputation of both his legs below the knee and limited movement in his arms and hands.
The 33-year-old from Welshpool was introduced to wheelchair rugby by a nurse during his rehabilitation. He had played able-bodied rugby before his illness.
Proud Welshman Roberts, who juggles his rugby duties for Great Britain with a career as a senior architectural technologist at a practice in London, revealed that he had recently met Wales’ record-breaking rugby union legend and captain Alun Wyn Jones.
Jones led his country to the Six Nations title and captained the British and Irish Lions in South Africa this year.
“Alun Wyn Jones is my rugby hero, although he went to a rival school, he went to Llandovery, I went to Brecon, we were a couple of years apart but there was always a rivalry between the schools,” Roberts told Around The Rings.
“That’s based on what he’s achieved in the game and I was lucky enough to get a couple of words with him at the British Sports Personality evening so that was amazing and hopefully I can catch a beer with him sometime when I’m back home!”
Roberts’ remarkable journey has seen him come back from the brink of death to become a two-time Paralympian with realistic medal ambitions in Tokyo.
“When you put it like that it does sound a little bit random, I think you can work hard and I’ve got a great group of people around me, the coaches put a lot of work into my game and my practice in London have been amazing to let me have the time to train and my family have been so supportive of me.
“I have to go and get on with life, it’s not going to come to you, you’ve got to go and do it yourself.”
The inspirational number 9 who plays as a forward underlined the importance of his team opening their Tokyo 2020 account with a win and was quick to pay tribute to the quality of their opponents.
“It’s definitely good starting out with a win, Canada are a class act, usually against Canada we’ve come off second best in these tournaments so it’s nice to go up against them and get the win for once.”
When asked how far Great Britain can go in this tournament the 2019 European Championships Most Valuable Player (MVP) said: “I play to win, that’s my mindset, I don’t look at coming in to settle for anything, I want to win every time I play and that’s the competitive drive I live my life with.”
Great Britain have two remaining pool games and Roberts spoke of the high-quality opposition that awaits the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic host nation on Thursday and Friday in Yoyogi, Tokyo.
“We’ve got a late night game against New Zealand tomorrow and they have some good players, it’s a game we’re not taking lightly and then USA are ranked one of the top teams in the world and have been since the game was invented.”
Great Britain play New Zealand on Thursday before finishing their group B pool phase against in-form USA on Friday.
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