Sebastien Bechara followed his England team-mate Jack Brown as the second winner of the Wheelchair Rugby League Golden Boot at a presentation ceremony in Manchester.
With Brown watching in the crowd, Bechara was presented with his award as the outstanding player in the Wheelchair game in 2022 by Malcolm Kielty, whose pioneering efforts in Halifax introduced the sport to England less than two decades ago.
Brown had been crowned the inaugural winner of the Wheelchair Rugby League Golden Boot for 2019, with no awards presented for 2020 and 2021 because of Covid’s impact on all forms of international Rugby League.
New Zealand won the other two awards, with Raecene McGregor winning the Women’s Golden Boot, and Joey Manu taking the men’s – which was presented by Adrian Morley, the recent Hall of Fame inductee.
“This is an amazing honour, but I can’t stop thinking about Friday,” said Bechara, referring to the RLWC2021 Wheelchair Final against England’s old rivals France – who he knows so well as a Catalans Dragons player based in Perpignan.
“France are a great team – this is the game we have been wanting for so long, and now it is so close.”
