The Barbados Men’s XVs team faced St. Lucia on Saturday, June 8, 2024, at the Philip Marcellin Grounds in Vieux Fort, St. Lucia in the latest match in the Rugby Americas North (RAN) 2024 regional tournament. The Bajan men ran roughshod over St. Vincent 80-0 in May, winning the first fixture played under the permanent light towers recently installed at the Garrison Savannah, home of Bajan rugby. The result of the St. Lucia match was even more one-sided: 93-7 to the Bajan men!
Referee Kanisha Vincent blew the whistle at 4:00 pm to get things underway, and a scant five minutes later, a St. Lucia infraction cost them a penalty as D’andre Phillips easily lofted the ball through the posts. A try by Estefan Ellis (who earned his first national cap in this match), increased the Barbados lead to 10 points to nil. St. Lucia rallied quickly and Malyle Chery scored what would be their only try of this fixture, with Flavian Gabriel’s successful conversion kick taking the score to 7 points to 10.
The Bajan men responded with increased pressure and excellent teamwork that added more points to their lead. Captain Enrique Oxley scored a try in the 21st minute of the first half. That opened the floodgates and the men in ultramarine and gold proceeded to score almost at will, with tries from Jeremy Nelson, Rajiv Grant, and Simon John. Sadly, the St. Lucian team’s discipline evaporated under pressure, and Flavian Gabriel received a yellow card. D’andre Phillips took advantage of this to score a try and a conversion while the St. Lucians were a man down. The half-time score was 41-7 in favour of the visitors.
Shortly after play resumed in the second half, the experienced Bajan players Daniel Ramsay and John Shane Howard added to the lead with tries, quickly followed by Simon John, Sean Ward, and Noah Paskins. It was almost too easy, as the St. Lucian discipline (or lack thereof) was all too apparent. Very little stood in the way of the Bajans, as Jeremy Nelson scored his second try of the match, and powerful Simeon John bulldozed his way through a desperate attempt at defence. Cadeem Knight scored a minute later, and D’Andre Phillips conversion was the final play of the match.
The Bajan players were ecstatic about this result, while Coach Joe Whipple was a little more reserved, pointing out that the St. Lucia team was not a challenging opponent. He praised his team’s discipline in the face of some less-than-stellar play from the home team and said he looked forward to future matches against more challenging teams. This tournament marks the first regional competition since COVID-19 cruelly interrupted team sports for close to three years. The regional unions, especially the smaller ones, will be working hard to rebuild and return to full strength.
Leave a Reply