21 Nov 2007 | Rugby
For the second consecutive year, The Bahamas’ national rugby team placed second in the Plate division of the North America and West Indies Rugby Association (NAWIRA) Sevens Tournament, this time at the Winton Rugby Pitch on Sunday.
Bermuda beat The Bahamas 19-14 in the final, which culminated in a five-minute sudden death overtime session, and as the scores indicated, the match was intense throughout.
Bermuda’s Darragh O’Donoghue made the first try around the second minute of the match. O’Donoghue’s teammate Chris Naylor’s kick was good for the two point conversion, giving them a 7-0 lead over The Bahamas.
In the second half, The Bahamas stole possession from Bermuda. Kevin Salabie made a break and fed the ball to Jeremico Cooper who made the try (7-5). Salabie returned to get the two-point conversion to tie the match at seven apiece. On the next play, good passing by Bermuda led to another try and conversion putting them up, 14-7. With less than a minute left in the game, one of The Bahamas’ top players, Jamaal Curry, made an assist to a speeding Andy Bodie who in return broke away from the Bermudans to score a try. Salabie made another good kick to tie the match at 14 apiece, forcing sudden death overtime.However, in the five-minute sudden death overtime, Bermuda went wide, found an opening and made the game-ending try.
The Bahamas slaughtered Barbados 34-5 in the semifinal as Dan Woodside led the team with two tries. Also Duran Beadle, Cooper, Curry and Bodie all made one try apiece while Salabie made the conversions. Barbados beat St. Vincent for third place in the Plate division.
After the final, Bahamas’ Head Coach Stephen Thompson said Team Bahamas has a bright future.
“The guys played very well. Bermuda was trying to slow the game down because they could not keep up with our speed. At the same time we also struggled with their size. The end result showed that strategies were well matched because at the end of regulation we had to go into overtime. It was a good game and hats off to Bermuda. With the loss we basically ended up in the same spot that we finished in a year ago (loss to Martinique in the Plate finals last year).
There was no improvement as far as the NAWIRA standings are concerned,” he said.
“Nonetheless, we have a lot of young men on our squad with the median age of the team being 21. There is a lot of experience to be gained. Furthermore, the team seemed to improve with every game at this tournament, ” Thompson further explained.
Woodside, who made two of the six tries in the semis to lead The Bahamas to the final, added: “We came into these last couple of matches pretty confident because we know that we have one of the better teams out here. Overall, I am happy with the guys’ play.”
Meanwhile, Bermuda’s Head Coach Lawrence Bird noted after the Plate final:
“My guys played very well today. However, on the first day of competition we did not play up to par which left me very disappointed. Nonetheless, the guys came back today and played proper sevens.”
Bird also touched on the turning point for Bermuda in the Plate final.
“In the sudden death overtime we managed to out-scrimmage The Bahamas. On the final play we scrummed them off the ball, gained possession, took it wide, went one way, pulled it back the other way and set our flyer free. It was all about possession in those last few seconds of the game,” he explained.
Regarding the women’s round-robin, Jamaica beat Guyana 12-0 to defend their Caribbean crown while Canada won over the United States for the North America crown.
President of the Bahamas Rugby and Football Union, Chris Lleida, said overall the tournament ran smoothly. “There were 60 games played over two days so a lot of work had to be done to the fields. We were able to upgrade the second field with help from Cable Bahamas, Bahamas Hot Mix and a lot of assistance from Steven Johnson. Unfortunately though this tournament is being held the same time as Jollification, so I think that, that event might have taken some of our fans,” explained Lleida.
15 Nov 2007 | Rugby
WHIRLPOOL YOUTH SOCCER LEAGUE: UPATE
Week 1
The first week of the Whirlpool Youth Soccer League saw some high scoring games as the coaches saw their new teams play for the first time.
Results:
Borco Oilers 1 Cable Bahamas 5
GB Shipyard 5 Dynamo Smit 2
Happiest out of everyone must have been Coach Riko Bazile who saw his team (Cable Bahamas Stars) ‘thump’ Borco Oilers by 5 goals to 1. In a great start to the season, goals from Kevera Turnquest (2) , Steve Joseph, O’Neal Marshall and Denzil Deveaux saw the Stars jump to the top of the standings. Losing coach Kasey Charlton was still upbeat however and thought his team played well and were unlucky to lose so heavily . His lone goalscorer was Andre Turnquest however the team showed enough talent to give Coach Kasey confidence that they will have a good season..
Stand –in coach Glyn also saw his GB Shipyard Wanderers hand out a lesson in finishing technique. In a close fought game, Wanderers striker Chris Malakious showed he is in serious contention for the leading goal scorer’s golden boot award by helping himself to 4 goals and ultimately proving to be the difference against Dynamo Smit. GB Shipyard took the victory by 5 goals to 2 with Tootz Sands also grabbing his first goal of the season for the victorious team. Coach Scott’s Dynamo team were left to rue some missed chances although goals from Terry Augustin and young James Farquason did keep them in the game.
Week 2
Results
Borco Oilers 0 AC Millies 3
Cable Bahamas 1 GB Shipyard 2
GB Shipyard maintained their 100 % start with another brace from Chris Malakious in a 2:1 win against previously undefeated Cable Bahamas Stars . In a close game , both teams showed some nice touches and worked the ball around the pitch well. Steve Joseph got the sole reply for Cable Bahamas.
In the second game, AC Millies made their Whirlpool league debut and were happy to come away with a 3:0 victory against Borco Oilers. In a tight first half in which both teams were happy to ‘size each other out’ , AC Milles took the lead late in the period with a good Gerrard – esque goal from Sam Taylor as he burst from midfield into space and shot past keeper Connor Godrum. Despite good work from Andre Turnquest up front and solid defensive play from Dan and Tristan Phillips for Borco , AC Millies scored the important second goal just before halftime after good play from N’Quem and Richardson and a good finish from a tight angle by O’Shane . As the spaces opened up in the second half , both teams saw plenty of the ball and both goalkeepers needed to make good saves to keep their goals intact. Eventually however Richardson , playing as a sole striker for AC Smit, scored the goal his efforts deserved to give his team a good 3:0 victory .
In order to ensure the players get good coaching as well as simply just playing games, each week only four (out of the five teams) play in the competition with the odd team out getting a bye week. It is the intention that this bye week gives that team (and their coach) an opportunity to work with his players on their technique. This first week saw AC Millies work together for the first time in preparation for the new season. Their coach , Mark Hardy , is optimistic for the season and feels they have a good blend of players. He especially noted they have some good ‘ball players ‘ in Preston Rolle and Aarron Levarity who he will encourage to attack defenders and create chances .This coupled with Sam Taylor and Richardson up front and a strong defence with Saul Salonga , Melyvonn Leon and Nicholas me
ans he expects his team to do well this season.
Next games are Wednesday 21st at 5pm at Freeport Rugby & Football Club
For up-to-date information on the league and the rest of the Dolly Madison Youth Soccer Programme check out the newly revised website at www.rugbyfootballbahamas.com
10 Nov 2007 | Rugby
No excuse now not to post articles or give your comments . Our team of technical bods have spent hours locked away ( alright mark de c spent about 10 minutes in Spankies) working out ways to ensure our little ‘nike salesman’ from the orient (no not the one in London) cannot bugger up our Board.
So we’re back, a new webpage, a new coach (Herb or Errrb if you are american), new pitches on the way, a new GBFL footy season and already national champions again (sevens ) .
10 Nov 2007 | Rugby
Freeport went down to Nassau and brought home the Bahamas Sevens Cup and in the process beat all the Nassau sides.
With an average age of 19, Freeport took 11 players to Nassau and all of them excelled at some point during the fiercely competitive competition. Freeport beat Cuckoos in their first game with tries from Denny Osias and Geo Rolle setting Freeport off to a flying start, in the next game even with Buccaneers down to six players Freeport managed to lose with the help of Marco Surin trying to score over his own line!
The team were soon back in business beating Bailou in their last pool game and setting up the final against Buccaneers. This time Freeport made no mistake and run out comfortable winners with some excellent play by all the team including young Kacy Charlton, Perkins Joseph, Miles Wilkinson and George Walker. Making his Freeport comeback Aaron Turnquest captained the side and marshaled them through all the games with some great seven’s play.
4 Oct 2007 | Rugby
Despite the rain in recent weeks, the Islands youngsters have still been coming out in their droves in readiness for the start of the Whirlpool Youth Soccer League which is expected to start in earnest within the next week or so after a month of hard and dedicated practices.
Technical Director Mark Hardy noted in an interview yesterday that registrations are almost complete and they are currently finalizing the teams in preparation for the first round of games. Coach Hardy said they hoped to start formal individual squad practices next week (Wednesday 10th) with pre-season friendlies starting the following week, at which point the team uniforms are to be distributed by the coaches. The official first Whirlpool League games of the fall 2007 season are expected to be played on Wednesday October 17th at Freeport Rugby & Football Club.
It was noted that there will be 5 teams competing for the Whirlpool Trophy:
Dynamo Smit
Borco Oilers
Cable Bahamas Stars
GB Shipyard Wanderers
AC Millies Car Rentals
There is an abundance of talented soccer players all ready for the season to start. These players range from the young (but richly talented) players such as Aarron Levarity, James Farquason and Marco Borsetto all of whom are playing above their age groups to more experienced players like Sam Taylor, Andre Turnquest and Christopher Malakious.
The Whirlpool I League forms part of The Dolly Madison Youth Soccer Academy which is for boys aged 9 to 21 years of age. All other age groups continue to practice at the same location (Freeport Rugby & Football Club) each Wednesday. The Soccer Academy offers those young male players, looking to further develop their soccer, an additional means of improving their skills and experience in the game of soccer by offering players further higher level and qualified coaching and additional organized practices and competitive games.
Any interested players or persons interested in helping to coach can contact Mark Hardy at 357 5403 or check www.rugbyfootballbahamas.com
4 Oct 2007 | Rugby
With a new rugby coach straining at the leash , Youth Rugby is ready to start up on Saturday October 13th at 10am at the club.
Coach Herb , who originates from the bedrock of rugby- New Zealand, has moved to the Island with the objective of developing the game of rugby on the Island. October 13th gives the first opportunity to any youngster (whatever 6 to 18), boy or girl who are interested in learning the game to give it a try ( no pun intended).
Youngsters will be split up by sex and age to ensure a safe and fun environment in which to learn the game.
Come along and see where the real action is . Contact Herb at 352 2952 for more details
