TOM HALLIWELL wants to see more major wheelchair games after playing in front of the biggest crowd of the year for England’s recent clash with France.
England were beaten 43-34 at Leeds’ First Direct Arena in a hotly-anticipated rematch of last year’s World Cup final between the two rivals, in which Halliwell scored the winning try.
France this time came out on top, largely thanks to scoring 30 unanswered points in the first half to subdue a strong home crowd.
For England’s first match since that World Cup win, when 4,526 packed out Manchester Central, 2,311 fans came to Leeds.
And Halliwell is keen to be more involved in more big occasions as the wheelchair game grows at impressive speed.
“It’s where you want to be. As a kid, you want to play on the biggest stages,” said the England captain.
“I’m one of those that likes it. I think I thrive on that, in those big games and under that pressure. I love it.
“You want the crowd to be behind you. I can’t thank them enough for creating so much noise and creating such an atmosphere.
“When I scored under the sticks, it was electric. I felt it. It was an amazing experience.
“Hopefully we can do these more often, have these big games. I think the boys will perform better and get used to it.”
Halliwell admitted bitter disappointment at England’s performance, and wants to put things right on November 25 in the reverse tie against France in Marseille.
“We gave ourselves too much to do. I can’t fault our character in the second half coming back, but in the first half we left too much of a gap to be able to chase,” he said.
“We gifted them the ball. We didn’t turn over on our terms, which is what we set out to do. That’s the thing we’ll look at in review and we’ll work hard to improve that.
“When things aren’t going your way, you need to stick together. We did stick together, we just had to ride that wave. I thought we did that and in the second half it was our time to have that wave, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.
“It just wasn’t to be but we’ll work hard and hopefully get the result in Marseille.”