Steelers hang on for last gasp win over France

The Steelers escaped a late French resurgence to advance to the finals in the wheelchair rugby with a 55-53 win.
Australia, who are the reigning world champions in the event, faced the host nation in the must win clash, with France’s energy elevated by the roaring crowd at Champs-de-Mars Arena on Saturday morning (AEST). 
In the end Chris Bond got over the line to seal the match late but the Aussies had to fight for everything.
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France were struggling to find gaps in Australia’s defence early in the game, forced to inject alternate playmakers to hinder the Steelers domination.  
Ryley Batt and Chris Bond were pivotal for the Steelers and orchestrated Australia’s plays in the first quarter, securing their side two defensive turnovers and a four-point lead as two French players were sent to the sin bin.  
Head coach Brad Dubberley utilised his bench in the second quarter, but a combination of errors and missed opportunities saw the margin quickly shift  back in favour of the host nation. 
Chris Bond gets over the line late to seal it. Nine
A tactical time out by Dubberley marked the return of Australia’s starting lineup, with a late try on the stroke of halftime placing the green and gold ahead by 1. 
Bond and Batt partnered in the third term in an attempt to reassert Australia back into the contest.
Together the pair scored 53 tries (Bond – 27), Batt (26).
The Steelers retained a three point lead heading into the final eight minutes, but the French were not ready to give up their Paralympic campaign. 
Yet the Aussies powered home off the back of Bond and Batt, who is competing in his sixth Paralympics and his 350th game for Australia in the win against France.
“That was a cracking game. Much better than yesterday. I had a bit of a bad spot there. I hit a bit of a wall in that second quarter and had a bit of a mental lapse. And yeah, that wasn’t the best,” Batt told Nine.
“But we dug deep. They brought some energy. I don’t know if you saw the pressure. They had us in the end there. And I just said to Bondy who wants it more. So yeah, happy with that.
“We had to win that, we knew yesterday, like GB couldn’t have played any better than they did yesterday. We actually we looked at the video, we played actually pretty good. They just they just played the best game I’ve ever seen. And, we’ve been in this position before.
“We’ve won World Championships and World Cup from losing the first game, so yeah, let’s, let’s build on this. That was one of the toughest games we’re going to get, I think like France is one of the top teams up there.
“So Denmark tomorrow, unfortunately we’re still waiting on a couple of results, what absolutely sucks. But, it is what it is. We’ll do our best against Denmark.”
Batt confirmed he is competing in Paris injured and will undergo surgery when gets home.
“The adrenaline got me through that. The the strapping on the back, on my back, the whole chest and back and shoulders are all taped up just to hold me through. And the strapping is torn in the back, and we couldn’t change it, you know, after that second quarter.
“So I just had to live with no strapping on the left shoulder. It’s unfortunately, it’s torn out. So every time I push, then it felt like it was just tearing more. But, yeah. I said to the team before this, I said, I don’t care about my body.
“I care about the team. We can fix the body later. So how often do you get to represent Australia at a Paralympic Games? So, hopefully I’ve got some good surgeons when I get home. I’m already booked in for surgery on the 11th of October, so. Yeah, let’s not worry about that right now.”