The Bahamas' national coach Andrew Davies was not overly impressed with the team's second place finish at the North America and West Indies Rugby Association (NAWIRA) Sevens Tournament held at the Winton Rugby Pitch on the weekend. Davies explained that the lack of fitness caused team Bahamas to finish in the same position as it did at the 2006 NAWIRA tournament in Barbados.

"We were aiming to be in the Cup but we found ourselves in the plate final again. We were in the plate final last year and lost to Martinique in the last minute," Davies said. "Each time we play in this tournament we get a little better but at the same time the other teams are getting better. Other countries go away after tournaments like this and come back even stronger, so making a small improvement is not going to get you up the rankings, you have to make a big jump in order to get ahead.
"The only thing that hinders us from getting the wins necessary to improve in the ranking is the lack of fitness. Just running regularly, easily cures this. The lack of fitness is the only thing that is holding us back," explained Davies.

Follow up:

On Sunday, The Bahamas loss 19-14 in a five-minute sudden death overtime against Bermuda. Before this final, The Bahamas dominated Barbados, thrashing them 34-5 in the semifinal. Devon 'Dan' Woodside led the team in that semifinal as he had two tries. Also, Duran Beadle, Jeremico Cooper, Jamaal Curry and Andrew Bodie all made one try apiece while Kevin Salabie made the conversions.

"We have three or four guys on our squad who know that until they reach those fitness marks, it is going to be difficult for us to really break through to the top level. However, there are a few guys out there who are playing extremely well. One of them is Jeremico Cooper. Throughout the tournament he went about his business very quietly, nonetheless made a lot of key plays when we needed them most. Also, Giovanni Rolle out of the Freeport Rugby Club made some fantastic tries. I know that he has caught the eye of some of the selectors that are here from the West Indies so that is always good to hear,"

Davies noted about the final.


Davies also highlighted the importance of hosting a prestigious event of this kind successfully.

"There is someone here from the International Rugby Board (IRB - world's governing body for rugby) and they are going to assess how we did (The Bahamas Rugby and Football Union) as far as transportation, quality of our pitches and the overall administration of the tournament, but so far we have been getting pretty good marks. There is room for improvement but if the IRB is impressed enough they will allow us to host NAWIRA again next year."

Concerning the quality of the pitches, BRFU's President Chris Lleida underlined what had to be done to get the second field ready in time.

"In order to accommodate the tournament with 60 games being held over two days, we knew that it was necessary to get the second pitch refurbished and reconditioned in time to host the Sevens successfully. Of course there were times when we realized that there are things that were overlooked or forgotten. We got a lot of help from the business community and volunteers. Generally, we are happy with how everything went,"

explained Lleida.


Source: Dahalia Smith, Nassau Guardian