Rugby team wins plate

THEY DIDN’T PERFORM as well as expected, but at least Barbados’ rugby team has something to show for its latest tour.The men’s national side overcame a slow first day before winning the plate at the recently concluded Caribbean Sevens Championship in Guyana.Barbados lost their first three encounters, falling to the hosts, who were the eventual champs, southern rivals Trinidad and Tobago, and The Bahamas to drop out of semi-final contention.But successive victories over the British Virgin Islands and St Lucia gave the West Coast Villas-sponsored team an eventual fifth-place finish and the plate title for first-day losers.“They didn’t perform as well as they should have but it was probably a case of jitters and cold feet,” said head coach Kenneth Payne.“It was the first time a lot of them played together and then they actually started to gel coming on to the end of the first day because we had four players coming in from overseas.”“I expected the team to place around fourth or so but they weren’t as competent in attack,” Payne added.The team doesn’t compete again until next year’s 15-a-side tournament and Payne will be working on the tactical errors in possession by getting more practice games in against credible opposition.“We will like to get more games in [because] that has been our downfall,” said Payne.“With the state of rugby in Barbados you don’t have a lot of games to play for match practice, and that’s where we fall down – because we do what we are drilled in, but we’re not getting to practice much else.” (JM)