Emperors Rugby Football Club and rivals Tridents Rugby Football Club hit the Garrison Savannah rugby pitch on Saturday, April 26, in what was to be a very unbalanced meeting. This marked the final fixture of the current men’s season, and featured a mix of experienced and new players, many of whom hope to make the National Men’s XV’s team for the two upcoming Rugby Americas North (RAN) test matches.

Tridents got onto the scoreboard less than five minutes into the match, and despite some impressive defensive attempts by the opposing Emperors, continued to score almost at will. Things could have been worse, but the Tridents’ conversion attempts were mostly unsuccessful, as the usually accurate D’Andre Phillips missed most of his kicks. The speedy and agile Cadeem Knight added another early try, giving the Tridents a 10-0 lead at the 10^th minute of play.

Fighting back vigorously, Sean Ward (Emperors) exhibited his usual steamroller tactics and scored his team’s first points with a converted try 12 minutes in. The action was fast and furious, and several ball-handling errors and knock-ons by the Emperors’ players allowed the experienced Jermaine “Roadblock” Bynoe and speedster Cadeem Knight to give the Tridents a 20-7 lead at half-time.

The second half began with Tridents’ formidable Jeremy Nelson, the experienced Stephen Millar and newcomer Naasir Daniel all scoring rapid-fire tries, with only one conversion, taking the score to 37-7. Cadeem Knight and D’Andre Phillips increased the lead with two converted tries. In reply, Emperors’ Nick Daniel thundered through the opposing team’s defence to score a try, while Sean Ward’s conversion was successful, re-igniting hope in their supporters. Unfortunately for them, Tridents Chris Blades and D’Andre Phillips were able to penetrate a porous defence and increase their lead, despite late scores from Rajiv Grant (try), Thierry Shepherd (conversion) and Ted Majewski (try).

The final score was Tridents 63 – Emperors 26, a fitting end to an entertaining match and season.

This match provided much-needed experience for the potential National team players who will be facing Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago very shortly, in the annual Rugby Americas North (RAN) Men’s XV’s tournament. Guyana will play Barbados at the Garrison Savannah on Saturday, May 17, at 7:00 pm. The Barbados Men will travel to Trinidad to face their team on May 31 for their second fixture in this tournament. This past Saturday, April 26, the once mighty Guyana “Green Machine” suffered a humiliating 48-17 defeat at the hands of the dominant Cayman Islands men, at home in Georgetown, in another RAN fixture.

The Guyana match promises to be extremely entertaining, as the visitors will be smarting from their trouncing by the Cayman Islands and anxious to redeem themselves. The local team have the home field advantage, and the Bajan men have been training hard to prepare for this important fixture. While the final team has not yet been announced, the confidence level is high, and everyone is anxious to return to full rugby action. Kick-off is at 7:00 pm, under the lights, on the newly refurbished pitch. This RAN match is sponsored by Sugar Bay Resort, longtime supporters of Barbados Rugby.