Current members of the MAPLES National Academy squad selected for the NACRA championships in Mexico. (L to R) Back row: John Doak, Albert Harris, Justin White, Wallace Little, Andrew Ibeh. (L to R) Front row: Mike Wilson, Edward Westin, Sean Murphy, Keswick Wright. Missing from the photo are players currently overseas, there include: Robbie Cribb, Josh Clark & Joel Clark.

The fourth leg of the Lime sevens was held amid the torrential downpours of rain on Saturday October 24th. The weather, however, did not dampen the players’ spirits or the quality of rugby on display at the South Sound Rugby Pitch.

The X107.1 national women continued to impress with three wins over the Eagle Rays, while in the social division CML Ama Tsotsi did not have it all their own way as the Caybrew Clydesdales managed a 7-all tie, and Remax Knackers and Maples all achieved much closer results than in previous weeks, building to an intense final weekend for all social teams next weekend.

In the premier division, the Maples National Sevens Academy continued to build towards the NACRA regional sevens to be held in Mexico next month with three strong performances and their fourth tournament title in a row beating the BPC Buccaneers 12 – 0, the Butterfield O’Neill Irish Wolfhounds 26 – 5, and then winning the final 26 – 5 against the BPC Buccaneers.

The academy players continue to develop their game plan, improving each week and in the final tournament next weekend the LIME national seven will take the field selected from among the Maples Sevens Academy players to test their tactics for the last time before departing to Mexico on November 11th.

The final weekend promises to be a grand affair with a full day of rugby, South African barbeque. and the sevens fundraising Halloween party to be held at the Beach Club later the same evening.

Coach Adams is pleased with the team’s development; “I was away last weekend for the third leg of the tournament, so I had to review those games on tape and was worried that we had taken a step backwards despite winning two of the three matches. I was away in Argentina thanks to the Cayman Islands Olympic Committee, the IRB and the IOC on a high level sevens coaching course.

The course was excellent with many of the world’s top sevens coaches and players available for question and answer sessions, it was also invaluable to be able to have these coaches and players analyze our own games on DVD and offer suggestions on how to improve our game and the timing could not have been better. We were immediately able to install much that I learned into today’s performances and it really made a big difference; over the next three weeks we will be able to really formalize much that we are doing and I honestly believe that what I learned in Argentina can make the difference we need to win in Mexico; it is now a race against time.

Coach Tokatokavanua will also be able to travel with the team, thanks to PSM Security and this is a massive boost as he is a world renowned sevens specialist who is also working with the team three mornings a week at Truman Bodden, thanks to the Cayman Islands Department of Sports. I can only say a big thank you to the CIOC on behalf of us all for such a great opportunity to allow the game to improve dramatically within Cayman.”