Barbados continued its march to the 2015 Rugby World Cup with a 51-0 demolition of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, when the first round of qualification for the Caribbean region reached its climax at the Garrison Savannah yesterday.
After a 34-3 victory in Kingstown two weeks ago, Barbados was even more dominant on its home turf, and though they did squander several points due to missed conversions, they displayed superior speed, defence and lateral movement of the ball.
Tries were scored by hooker Gregg Moseley-Clarke, fly half Kofi Chase, second rower Kevyn Murrell, number eight Steven Milar, prop Neil Forde, flanker Dwight Forde and winger Ramoun Downes.
Winger Jae Bowen also scored twice during the rout.
“We have a lot of young players in our team and we need to make sure that they can compete at the highest level,” said Dennis Hargreaves, technical development officer with the Barbados Rugby Football Union.
“The national team that we had five years ago was far more experienced than this current team. None of this current crop has played at the highest level before. A lot of these guys are still schoolboys. But it’s nice to blood them and they are showing their commitment.”
Barbados will this week face Curacao in an international friendly, before taking on Trinidad & Tobago in a World Cup qualifier on May 5 in the twin-island republic. Barbados will then play host to Guyana on May 19.
“Curacao is a country which is currently developing the sport. It will be a warm-up for our Under-19 development side and from that game we will see if there is anyone else in contention for the national squad,” added Hargreaves.
In 2006, Barbados enjoyed its best showing at the Rugby World Cup by winning the Caribbean Zone of qualification before losing to Canada and United States in the Americas Zone.
Speaking about the sport in general, Hargreaves said: “It’s alive, but it could be a lot better. We need to get more support, from the players themselves and from the public in general. We are holding our own, but things could indeed be better.”
The 2015 Rugby World Cup will be hosted by England and will be contested between September 4-October 17. (AH)
Source: www.barbadosadvocate.com