The Barbados senior men’s rugby team handily defeated St. Vincent last weekend to move up significantly in the .

Barbados captain Dwight Forde proved the match-winner with a hat-trick of tries in the34-3 victory over St Vincent & The Grenadines at the Arnos Vale Stadium in Kingstown, St. Vincent , although Sean Ward, Stephen Millar and Che Springer also crossed the try-line. SVG had been ranked two places higher than their visitors at 76th going into the match, but they have slumped seven places to 83rd with Barbados climbing 11 places to Cayman Islands previous ranking of 67th.

The local team is also expected to defeat the Vincentian squad in the second match, which will be held at the Garrison Savannah on April 21.

The senior men’s team will also be going to Trinidad for another test on May 5, and then Barbados will host Guyana on May 19. Both of these fixtures are qualifiers for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Other scheduled fixtures for the BRFU include:

• April 28, Barbados Development Squad vs. Curaçao at the Garrison
• May 12, Barbados Select XV vs. South Wales Police
• May 19, Barbados Select XV vs. South Wales Police

In related news, the U19 Squad are training hard for the upcoming NACRA Championships taking place in Mexico CIty, July 7-14.
BRFU President George Nicholson says that several of the U19 players from last year’s squad are now in the Senior squad, alongside half a dozen or so of the current U19 players.

The BRFU is actively raising funds to send the in July. PRO Kathie Daniel has been in touch with several businesses in the tourism and international business sectors, seeking sponsorship for the team.

“Rugby is on the most popular sports in the world, and the NACRA games will be streamed live over the internet and will attract a lot of international media coverage,” she pointed out.

“For a sponsor, your logo on our uniforms will be seen by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. In addition, we are holding car washes and bake sales and offering our squad of strong healthy young men for hire! We are more than willing to work to make our money!“