Davies Confident National Rugby Squad Will Become Regional Force
The Bahamas national rugby team finished second in the plate division of the North American and West Indies Rugby Association Sevens Tournament hosted at the Winton Meadows Rugby Pitch ending on Sunday.
Team Bahamas gave a valiant effort against Bermuda but still came up short losing 19-14 in over time, and for the second straight year had to settle for runners up in the Plate Division.
The Bahamas was eliminated from the Cup Division after losing its first two matches to Trinidad and Tobago (17-12) and Jamaica (22-5) on Saturday. Before the match against Jamaica, Davies said the team was a little "despondent" after the loss to Trinidad and Tobago.
They lost the second match to Jamaica before defeating the Cayman Islands (24-0) in the third match to finish the opening round with a 1-2 record, third in Pool-B.
After a night to ponder over those plays where they fell short, The Bahamian players returned on Sunday with a vengeance defeating St. Vincent and the Grenadines (19-0) and the Turks and Caicos (44-0) both by shut outs. Later on Sunday they got by Barbados (27-5), comfortably, this time to reach the Plate final.
Despite coming up on the short end in the plate championship match The Bahamas did not go down easy.
Bermuda lit up the scoreboard first when Darragh O'Donoghue made the first try early into the match and after the successful extra point conversion led 7-0.
Team Bahamas stepped up the defense in the second half of the match. After stealing the ball Kevin Salabie handed off to Jeremico Cooper who was successful on the try. Salabie made the two points conversion to tie the score.
But moments after The Bahamas scored, it seemed as if they took a sigh of relief, and it allowed Bermuda to pounce again for their second try and extra point to take the lead 14-7.
However, with less than a minute in regulation Andy Bodie broke away for a huge score that forced overtime and caused the hometown fans to erupt. However, the celebration was short lived.
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In the sudden death extra five minutes period Bermuda spread the field and used their speed to strike first and secure the game and the Plate Title with The Bahamas as the runner up, the exact position they finished last year.
At the end of the tournament Head Coach Andrew Davies said he is confident that The Bahamas has enough talent to soon be considered a major player in regional rugby.
"We got a very good group of players including veterans like Jeremico Cooper, Andrew Camp and Dan Woodside who plays professionally in the United Kingdom and is benefiting from that experience," he said.
"We also have got few young guys on the squad as young as 19-years old like Giovanni Rolle out of Grand Bahama and these guys are getting better and better and they are maturing and they are not yet fully grown, so they have a lot to look forward to, and next year they will come out here and be a little faster and a little stronger and then we will see who is who," said Davies.
To advance to the finals in the Plate division The Bahamas demolished Barbados 34-5 in the semi-finals. Dan Woodside led with two tries. Barbados went on to defeat St. Vincent and the Grenadines for third place in the Plate division.
Guyana successfully defended their title with 7-5 win over Jamaica in the Cup title march on Sunday, while Canada captured the ladies title after beating the USA Development team in a close match.
The Bahamas Rugby Union is hoping to host the 2008 edition of the Caribbean Sevens Championship that will serve as a qualification match for the 2008 Sevens World Cup which should be "encouraging for local players to reach new heights in terms of fitness, skill and speed so that we are able to challenge for the win," said Davies.
Source: Gerrino Saunders, The Bahama Journal
