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24th April 2008 : Day 2: T&T face Guyana in World Cup qualifying final

Trinidad & Tobago will play Guyana in the final of the Caribbean Rugby World Cup 2011 qualifying tournament on Saturday after the two sides won their respective Cup semi finals against Barbados and Bermuda in Georgetown.

The winner of the final will go on to to play the winner of the Consur B championship, featuring Brazil, Paraguay, Colombia, Venezuela and Peru, later in 2008.

Bermuda 13-25 Guyana

Guyana were quickly into their stride against Bermuda, tries by centres Kevin McKenzie and Theodore Henry taking them to a 12-0 lead after only 10 minutes.

Ryan George added a penalty kick as Guyana attacked relentlessly outside through the pace of McKenzie and West Indies Sevens captain Claudius Butts, but back row forward Benjamin Beasley's try gave Bermuda hope, 15-8 down at the break.

Guyana started the second half as they did the first, however, and a quick try by fly half Christopher Singh put them well ahead. Both sides battled hard in the heat with neither making inroads until Henry kicked and collected cleverly to score and put the result beyond doubt. Chris Furburt pulled a try back for Bermuda in the dying seconds to make the final score to 25-13 in favour of Guyana.

Referee: Tony Spreadbury (RFU)

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21st April 2008 : Day 1: T&T start RWC 2011 qualifying in style

Trinidad & Tobago were the victors of the first IRB Rugby World Cup 2011 qualifying match, overcoming Cayman Islands 39-12 at the Truman Bodden Stadium in Georgetown, Grand Cayman.

The match was the first of four contested on day one of the tournament, which also doubles as the 2008 NAWIRA Caribbean Championship.

In the second game on day one, Guyana defeated Jamaica 10-3 to join Trinidad & Tobago in the semi finals. Bermuda will join them at that stage after a 29-13 defeat of Bahamas in match three and Barbados' last-gasp 21-20 win over Mexico secures their berth in the semis.

Mexico fall just short of upset

Mexico, without an IRB World Ranking and in their first-ever RWC qualifying match, were minutes away from a stunning upset over Barbados, ranked 60th in the rankings.

Mexico led 20-18 before Barbados kicked a penalty to snatch a 21-20 lead with minutes left. Mexico had the opportunity to win it in the last minute but full back Septien's kick just drifted right.

Semi final lineups

The four winners from day one go on to the semi finals and keep alive their RWC 2011 qualifying hopes. The fixtures for the second match day, on 23 April, are:

Cup semis:
Bermuda v Guyana (14:30)
Trinidad & Tobago v Barbados (16:30)

Bowl semis:
Cayman Islands v Mexico (10:30)
Bahamas v Jamaica (12:30)

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18th April 2008 : NAWIRA: Rugby World Cup Qualifying Preview

In Paris, just less than half a year ago, South Africa lifted the most precious prize in the World of Rugby. They conquered the 6th World Cup. Now, not so long after that conquest, the Webb Ellis Trophy will restart its journey throughout the world to captivate souls and bodies, tears and gold.

People, it's time. Kilometres and time zones away from the Eiffel Tower, we head to the Cayman Islands, in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, to preview the first tournament with direct involvement in New Zealand 2011.

Last time around the privilege and responsibility of opening the process rested in the hands of Andorra and Norway when they kicked off the road to France 2007, while playing the first match of the European Qualification. NAWIRA will be, this time around, and for the first time in the history of the tournament the Association in charge of clearing the path to New Zealand. This tournament, as part of the Americas Qualification, will start next Sunday, when the first whistle will be heard and the hosts, Cayman Islands will be facing the Calypso Warriors from Trinidad and Tobago. That match will be acknowledged as the first one by the IRB.

Nevertheless, as this columnist considers it, we should take into account as well the pre-qualifier match held on March 29th, in Arnos Vale, Saint Vincent. That match had the importance of being Mexico's first ever under IRB full membership. Las Serpientes took care of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines by beating them 47-7. Physical dominance was the key that made the Aztecs prevailed over the Amazona Guildingii, to therefore qualify for Cayman Islands' showdown. While Juan Pablo Andrade and Carlos Petersen scored two tries each, Richard Quintana, Luis Bullrich and Gabrielle Nanni added to the account for the tricolores, while Dugal James scored for the Vincentians. As stated by RugbyBahamas website, Jacquie de Freitas, president for the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines RFU and her volunteers gave first class accommodation and transportation, with the venue, pre and post match arrangements including national anthems, flags, catering, announcements, post-match Vincentian meal, ambulance and medical personnel all coordinated. We'll be posting an interview we had with Jacquie in the next few weeks to get a wider view on Vincentian rugby.

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16th April 2008 : RWC Qualifier in Cayman

Rugby gears up for international qualifiers

This week sees the arrival of the William Webb Ellis Trophy, commonly known as the ‘Bill’, on Grand Cayman.

The Bill is rugby’s equivalent of the Olympic Torch and arrives at the start of the third largest sporting event anywhere in the world, the 2011 Rugby World Cup , which will officially start at the South Sound Rugby Ground at 10:30 am on Sunday, 20 April. The Cayman Rugby National men’s team will play Trinidad & Tobago in game one of the International Rugby Board (IRB) qualification tournament for the NAWIRA region.

The two teams are the highest ranked Caribbean participants in the tournament, holding 57th and 58th places respectively.

In total, 96 countries will participate in the RWC 2011 over the next four years, until 20 teams emerge at the finals to be held in New Zealand on 23 October 2011.

The Cayman Rugby Football Union (CRFU) and the Cayman Islands have received this almost unique accolade due to hard work, dedication to youth development programmes and their track record of hosting excellent events over the past few years.

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