T&T’s rugby Calypso Warriors are now in prime position to advance from the NACRA Pool B World Cup 2015 qualifiers, following a 32-3 drubbing of rivals Barbados, in a thrilling affair at St Mary’s Ground, Serpentine Road, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. Head coach Larry Mendez’s combined selection of youth and experience paid off as a tactically sound display from the Warriors, saw the home team control the fixture from kick-off.

Holding a strong defensive line, Barbados was given very little sight of its try-line throughout the encounter though it was T&T’s first 15s match in just under a year. The match took place under ideal conditions. Following a day of persistent showers and despite continuous drizzles, the ground was almost completely without mud. The pitch, however, was completely surrounded by the regular enthusiastic supporters for the Calypso Warriors.

Both teams looked nervous at the start, but T&T took the advantage with only five minutes gone. Northern and T&T’s designated kicker Justin Mc Lean slotted home a fine penalty kick. Barbados then had the perfect opportunity to tie up the match, but its kicker failed to find the target from directly in front of the post.

Tables again turned,as T&T took advantage of the miss and went 8-0 up thanks to a brilliant effort from flanker Wayne Kelly, who darted down the left wing after being linked from the opposite side of the park. The link-up play between the T&T players were at times exceptional, with outside-half Don Rojas proving his experience with clinical and tidy passes.

Barbados replied with a penalty of their own from Kevin Carter, to make it 8-3, but at that point, T&T regained momentum and conducted several promising runs, while holding its strong defensive lines. With two minutes left in the first half, a quick turnover, and quick passes onto the flank found James Phillip, who made no mistake taking on half the length of the pitch to put T&T up 13-3, much to the delight of the red-clad supporters.

McLean made up for his earlier missed conversion attempt on the first try, to put T&T 15-3 up, which stood at the half. The second half began with more dominant play from T&T. The Warriors improved from elementary errors but still suffered from a fair share of avoidable knock-ons.

Kelly, who gave T&T its 8-0 advantage and proved a key player in the exchanges, suffered a blow to his head and may have continued had he not been substituted by Mendez, who described the switch as a “precautionary move.” He was replaced by Kurt Quashie.

The home team only further improved following the switch, and in the 48th minute, persistence paid off, as T&T maintained position after strong challenges from Barbados, with James Phillip breaking through to make it 22-3. The try was again brilliantly converted by McLean from a tight angle. Another successful string of passes contributed to the 62nd-minute try from Jamal Clark.

Joseph Quashie rounded up the scoring in the 67th minute after captain Jonathan O’Connor found him with a clever pass on the left flank. With ten minutes remaining in the fixture, T&T was assured the win but continued to press in search of as high a score as possible in case a good goal difference was required to advance. All five substitutes were introduced in the match, and impressed. Mendez agreed.

Following the encounter, the elated T&T players congratulated each other on a hard-fought, well-earned win. A bright Mendez appreciated the performance from his team. However, he thought his players had the opportunities to seal at least nine more tries had it not been for several knock-ons and poor final passes.

“I’m satisfied and I’m elated that we won... But certain things show that we need a lot of work to take us further through the tournament,” Mendez said. “A lot of the players are binding into the pattern, and the fitness is showing.” He said the game went according to plan. “Not 100 per cent, but in most instances, the game went according to plan. You would see where we had so many opportunities to score, if not for that last pass. Now we see that you can’t stop coaching the basics.”

Ahead of the match Mendez said that his game plan was to take Barbados on the wing and play against its strength. The moved worked as almost all of T&T’s tries came at the expense of a stretched and outpaced Barbados team. Barbados’ head coach Dennis Hargreaves looked an obviously disappointed man after the match. He admitted that T&T was the better side, but indicated that his side was a very young one, consisting of at least three 17-year-olds.

“Not to make any excuses, but we’re working with many young guys. The difference was evident today. We were outplayed,” he said. “We’ll have to work much harder to improve the goal-difference in out next match against Guyana.” T&T will also take on Guyana in the final Pool B match on June 2. The team, which advances from the group, will meet the winner of Mexico’s clash with Bermuda.

-Andrew Gioannetti

Source: www.guardian.co.tt