Ryley Batt and Australia were beaten by the US. File pic
THE Americans have overcome the Australian Steelers in a fiercely-contested wheelchair rugby battle in Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral Square.
Seeking revenge after losing their No.1 ranking to the Americans in June, London Paralympics gold medallists Australia were defeated 56-43 in the opening match of a three-day Tri-Nations tournament - the first to be played outdoors.
The Australians remained confident they could bounce back to contest Friday's final.
"We're pretty resilient,'' said Australia's Curtis Palmer, who recently changed allegiances from the competition's other participant, New Zealand, to join the Steelers.
"We had one day's training and I don't think that did enough to load the cobwebs out.
"There's no question we'll come back strong.''
The sun streamed down from the heavens but the action on the purpose-built court was anything but reverent as about 3000 people watched players race, ram and lock each other up in an effort to free up their goal-scorers.
Scores were neck and neck in the first quarter but the US pulled away in the second to build a five-point lead.
Australian co-captain Ryley Batt busted a few wheelies on his way to 22 goals - the most in the game - much to the delight of the crowd who included school students and NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell.
"It hurts a lot, being No.2 in the world again,'' Batt said.
"We were hopefully coming here to get some confidence over them with a couple of wins.
"Unfortunately, we didn't do that today, but there's two more days.''
Batt was looking forward to his post-game ice bath.
"It's a totally different experience (playing outside), something that I enjoyed, something that I'll have to get used to,'' Batt said.
"The heat and the sun factor was a huge thing for me. I'm a very heavy sweater, and water and tyres don't mix so it made it slippery out there.''
The Americans were out for a vengeance of their own kind after the Sydney and Beijing Paralympic gold medallists were demoted to bronze in London, as Australia took the gold.
They smeared black war paint under their eyes.
"We kind of had fun with it, did a little face painting and went out there and just played,'' said team USA co-captain Joe Delagrave.
"To have a constructed court, and the fans, the hugeness of it was really neat.''
But Delagrave added this tournament is just one step on the way to a much bigger end goal.
"Our rallying cry is the road to Rio,'' he said.
"The major medal we want is the gold medal, and Australia has that.
"We're gonna go out there and know that they have what we want.''
Wheelchair rugby combines elements of rugby, basketball and ice hockey and requires participants to have a disability involving function loss of both upper and lower limbs.
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