Twelve nations contested the men's title at the North America West Indies Rugby Association (NAWIRA) sevens championship at the Winton Rugby Pitch in New Providence, unfortunately for the home town fans, host Bahamas was not up to the task at the two-day event that ended Sunday.


Team Bahamas needed to finish in the top two in Pool-B that included Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Cayman Islands, but spoiled their chances of advancing after dropping their first two matches against Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica.
Going into the match against Jamaica, Coach Andrew Davies said team was extremely unlucky after losing to Trinidad and Tobago despite opening an early 12 points lead at the half. It is a team The Bahamas has never beaten Trinidad and Tobago in Cup play. The visitors came back to win 17-12.

"I'm not sure what went wrong but I know there were clear opportunities but at the end of the day we did not execute, and I think we lost that match rather than being beaten," said Davies.
Other than competition in 15-a-side rugby play Davies said, "This is our big tournament. Although 15-a-side is the bedrock of our game here in The Bahamas but the seven-a-side is hugely popular world-wide because its all action, all speed with a lot of hits and a lot of skill on display."
"We play for this every year and there is a lot bragging rights involved, but next year the winner of this tournament will go through to the world Cup Qualifiers for the actual World Cup Sevens Tournament, so that is huge for us and this is good for us host this tournament, and if we do a good job we get to do it again next year,"

explained Davies.

Follow up:

He is hoping the fact that The Bahamas may host the 2008 World Cup Qualifier would be incentive for local players "to try and reach new heights in terms of fitness, skill and speed and go for the win," he said.


Players from team Bahamas: Kevin Salabie (captain), Giovanni Rolle, Leon McPhee, Raymond Simpson, Dorian Roach, Devon Woodside, Jeremico Cooper, Jamaal Curry, Andrew Bodie, Andrew Kemp, Duran Beadle, Andrew Bain.


After its first two loses team Bahamas was relegated to Plate competition.
The Bahamas finished as the runners-up in Plate competition at the 2006 championships in Barbados and ranked eighth overall heading into this year's tournament.

Mexico and Barbados joined defending champion Guyana and the Turks & Caicos Islands in Pool A at the two-day event, which also features a women's event.
Bermuda, Martinique, St Vincent & The Grenadines and representative side USA Rugby South also battled it out in Pool C.

The NAWIRA Sevens also features a women's competition that ran simultaneously featuring round robin play between Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, together with development teams from Canada and USA. Each team played each other twice to determine the champion.


Source: The Bahama Journal