The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Rugby Football Union kicked off its 2014-15 season on Saturday at the Winton Rugby Field with a thrilling finish to the first match in the Nassau Cup series.

Inside centre Ashley Roberts scored two tries, the second of which came with just under two minutes to play and lifted the Cuckoos to a 19-14 win over Buccaneers.

“Obviously it was a great way to start the year,” Roberts said. “We wanted to come out and start off on the right foot to regain the championship form we had. It’ll just take hard work and consistency.”

After claiming the Bahamas Cup title two years ago, Cuckoos struggled last season and entered the Heineken Bahamas Cup playoffs as fourth seeds.

Buccs opened the scoring with a try from Dorian Roach and a conversion from Sean Albury for a 7-0 lead.

Jamaal Curry got the first try for Cuckoos and in the second half, Roberts’ first try gave his side the lead, with Curry tacking on the conversion to make it 12-7.

Roman Knowles regained the lead for the Buccs and another Albury conversion made it 14-12 before Roberts’ late game heroics.

Charles Smith, the Cuckoos captain, said it was important for his side to make an early statement to the rest of the league. “Being the first game of the season everyone was keen on getting that first hit in and playing against the Buccaneers is always a tough and physical game. But our guys dug down deep to start us on a winning path.

“We’ve been putting in the hard work in training and it paid dividends,” he said. “It was just the start for us and we won’t get carried away, there are a lot of games left and we have to keep up the hard work.”