SPORTS

Cayman National Rugby Team to defend Becks Cup against the Bahamas Saturday

Friday, April 30, 2004

This Saturday, 1 May the Cayman National Rugby Team will play its last full 15-a-side international match of the season against the Bahamas at the South Sound Rugby Pitch at 5pm.

The national team is defending the Becks Cup that it won in the Bahamas last year.

Lat year’s match was very close, with Cayman winning 15-5. Since that win, the Cayman team has recorded wins over Bermuda, 12-0 in the Bermuda Challenge Cup and Jamaica, 42-0 in the Mayfair Cup at home.
They also played three very tough matches against Canada’s U23 two weeks ago in preparation for the Becks Cup.

Captain Stephen Hannon is optimistic of the side’s chances of retaining the Cup this weekend.

“We have had a long and hard season with our coach putting us up against harder and tougher opposition than we have been used to, especially the Canadian U23 side,” he said.

“I think we were all a little surprised at just how well we did against the Canadians and it has left our confidence high. Grizz has also introduced some new coaching and playing methods since those games and the players have reacted well to the changes in training, so it will be interesting to see our newer style and more expansive game take shape this Saturday.

“We will be selecting the final squad of 23 players after training on Tuesday and while we have one or two injury concerns we also will be welcoming back a few faces that have been missing for a while.

“The Bahamas have great speed and agility in their backs so I know that we will be tested out wide, we have prepared for this however and were tested well by the Canadians and Jamaicans who both had excellent speed out wide. Should be a great game to end our season.”

Back...