By GREG ANSLEY
SYDNEY - War has been declared.
Yesterday, the Sydney Morning Herald carried a message from Wallabies captain John Eales to the Australian Paralympic wheelchair rugby team.
"If you run into the New Zealanders at any stage of the tournament," Eales said, "I want to see no Kiwi left in his
chair."
The New Zealanders were surprised but uncowed.
"Wow - he said that?" coach Tony Howe said. "That's quite impressive.
"He had to hand us the Chris Handy Cup [the Bledisloe of wheelchair rugby] after we beat Australia a couple of years back. He seemed like a nice guy at the time."
Obviously, the rivalry between the two countries runs pretty deep.
All going to plan, New Zealand will meet Australia in the semifinals on Saturday - after we win our pool and they come second in their's.
But Howe would prefer that the two teams meet in the playoff for the gold medal.
The dream would be for an Australian-New Zealand final, he said.
"Then it would be hell-for-leather."
The competition in no-holds-barred wheelchair rugby is expected to be intense, especially between frontrunners New Zealand, Australia, Britain and the United States.
Early in the Paralympics, officials were embarrassed to find an Australian had installed a camera to secretly film the Canadian team training.
Red-faced Australian officials had to reprimand the player responsible for the undercover operation.
Howe said the incident was rare in the sport, but indicated the depth of rivalry.
"It shows that the competition is very serious and very fierce," he said.
"I guess when someone is under pressure they do what they need to do."
Howe said he expected his team to perform well, but did not want to place too much pressure on.
"We will aim first for the semifinals. From then, it will be the one who wants it most."
The Paralympics enjoyed their biggest day yesterday, with 110,000 flocking to the various venues.
More than 1000 buses carried 50,000 people. The other 60,000 used rail transport.
Crowds packed the 20,000-seat wheelchair basketball centre and 8600-seat wheelchair rugby venue.
After seven days of competition, 639,000 people have attended the Games.
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