Strettle meets his match when it comes to murderball

By Dan Schofield, Sportsbeat

IT IS probably just as well that England rugby winger David Strettle didn't tell Saracens chief executive Edward Griffiths what he was up to just days before the Aviva Premiership final.

NEWCOMER: Saracens and England wing David Strettle takes part in an exhibition wheelchair rugby event in London

In the heart of London, Strettle was taking part in an exhibition wheelchair rugby match - or to give the sport its other name ‘murderball'.

Introduced in North America in the 1970s, murderball broke the mould for wheelchair users in allowing full contact, encouraging aggression and defying perceptions.

The game is simple enough: a team, comprising of four players, have to carry the ball over the opposition line. In especially adapted wheelchairs the defending team have to prevent the opposition from crossing. By any means necessary.

Two years ago, England captain Steve Brown was left in intensive care after breaking his sternum, six ribs and bruising his heart in a collision with two wheelchairs coming from different directions.

In that context, it was perhaps not a wise idea for Saracens to release one of their most valuable assets into a no-holds barred match just days before one of their most important matches in their history against Leicester.

Fortunately the 27-year-old came through unscathed before another bruising contest with the Tigers' own battering ram - the 18st 6lb Samoan wrecking machine Alesana Tuilagi - but not without a new-found respect for Brown and co.

"I have never come across it before to be honest and I was surprised by how much physicality there is out there," said Strettle, just his cameo appearance.

"I was only out there for ten minutes or so and I am still aching now.

"You only appreciate once you are actually on the chair how hard it is to move around. Not only are they moving around but they are also playing the sport as well.

"It is a proper physical contest and a sport that I recommend as many people as possible watch because once you do, you are hooked."

‘Hooked' is how most players describe themselves on the sport.

Mandip Sehmi's life changed forever when he was left paralysed from the neck down after breaking his neck in a car crash in 2000.

But it also changed irrevocably when Bob O'Shea, who captained Great Britain at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics, introduced Sehmi to the sport while he was recovering at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

He has barely stopped playing since and the sport has taken him to San Diego, Singapore, Sydney, Cape Town and most notably Beijing - for the 2008 Olympics where Britain finished fourth.

Now a full-time athlete and selected by Cadbury's Spots v Stripes Olympic Ambassadors alongside Rebecca Adlington and Shanaze Reade, Sehmi is still amazed at how far the sport has taken him.

He said: "As soon as I started playing the sport, I was addicted but when I think back then I would never have imagined the opportunities that would have come my way.

"I have just always loved the physical contact the sport allows you and that's the same for nearly everyone once they try it.

"Getting to train every day and go to different countries to compete is just amazing.

"I get to do the thing I love every day - how many other people can say that?"