The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

AS the regular season concluded over the weekend, the Bahamas Rugby Football Union now sets its sights on international competition for the youth development programme.

The Bahamas is expected to field a team to compete in the men’s under-19 Caribbean Championships in Trinidad and Tobago in July.

The BFRU, still in need of funding for the team, is all set to host a Silent Auction Fundraiser at Luciano’s of Chicago 7:30pm May 31.

Tickets for the fundraiser are available from BRFU executives.

The team has been training for months, many of whom, according to BRFU director Elystan Miles, are a product of the newly implemented feeder system placed in Bahamian high schools.

“For a lot of these guys many of them were playing organised rugby for the first time in a tournament style of play. The team here just started training several months back and we have seen them make progress,” he said. “In Freeport there is a strong youth rugby programme and here in Nassau we are just trying to build our programme, so we have gone into the schools and the players that are coming out at this national team level you can see improvement but more work is needed.”

The select squad has played in several friendly test matches against Joan of Arc out of Canada and Brown University out of the United States.

Following the match against Joan of Arc, national team head coach Garfield Morrison says the potential in the feeder system has already begun to pay dividends.

“A lot of adjustments will have to be made but overall the team is shaping up and they will be a strong side to contest with, if they stick together and continue training. It is important for them to continue training because you can see the potential in the players,” he said. “The guys from Freeport, they play at a club level so they will have that continuous play and it is important for us to establish that for the guys in Nassau here as well. We have the U-19 and U-16 programmes going on in schools so they will definitely have persons to play against and you will see newer faces.”

The last national appearance for the BRFU came earlier this month when the men’s 15-a-side squad suffered a dissappointing loss at home in regional play.

The Bahamas fell 42-15 to USA South in an attempt to qualify for the NACRA North Caribbean

Championship, despite a strong second half performance.

Team Bahamas actually outscored USA South 15-12 in the second half, but it was hardly enough to overcome a 30-0 halftime deficit.

The 2012 NACRA Caribbean Championship was the first qualifying event for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The tournament featured nine IRB members from the Caribbean and North and South America.

In the pre-qualification tournament, the Bahamas suffered consecutive losses and was eliminated. In game one, the Bahamas fell 27-7 to the Cayman Islands, who beat the Bahamas for the first time since 2003.

In game two, the Bahamas fell 16-8 to Bermuda in their second game of the North Zone group. The Bahamas missed out on an opportunity to play in the North Caribbean final by virtue of the loss to Cayman.