BARBADOS brushed aside Curaçao 41-3 in the second round of the 2013 North America Caribbean Rugby Association Championships last Saturday at the Garrison Savannah.
In front of more than 350 vociferous supporters, the young “Lions”, resplendent in new kits sponsored by Banks, Rubis and DHL, beat Curaçao in convincing style to progress into the next round.
Smaller physically than their opponents and with an average age of 22, Barbados started the game nervously in hot and windy conditions.
A missed penalty was the only chance in the first 20 minutes for either side to put points on the board.
Then Barbados, witha solid drive from the forwards, moved into the heart of the Curaçao half and linked with the speedy backs to spin the ball wide.
A dummy run from Nicholas Jackman distracted the Curaçao defence and gave Sean Ward the opportunity to hand off his tackler, round two more defenders and score Barbados’ first points.
This was soon followed by a try from Nico Blunt, created by an injection of pace and interjection of fullback Rondel “Rapta” Cumberbatch into the line to create the overlap on 26 minutes.
The first half closed with some Barbados mishandling, resulting in a scrum and attack pressure from Curaçao forwards threatening to score on Barbados’ goal line.
The second half got under way with Curaçao, with the slight wind advantage, pinning Barbados in their own half with intelligent kicking.It wasn’t until the 56th minute that Barbados threatened again, with Jackman bursting through the Curaçao back line and receiving good support from the forward, resulting in a drive to the line and touchdown by Dwight Forde.
After the match, coach Stuart Copeland said that he was delighted with the win and gave credit to the 33 players in the squad and 22 players on the day for a great effort to get fit and conditioned and playing with courage, heart and discipline to see off good opposition. (PR)
