The Tribune

THE ALIV Nassau Cup kicked off last Saturday at the Winton Rugby Centre with the challengers in action looking to take an early advantage in the standings.

Cuckoos RC scored a 15-12 win over Buccaneers RC Saturday at the Winton Rugby Centre.

Djorn Rolle scored the opening try when he intercepted a pass and took it 60 yards to give his side a 5-0 lead.

Anwar Mitchell would go on to score the equaliser for the Bucs with his try to knot the game at 5-5.

Matthew Williams would score to regain the lead for Cuckoos, 10-5.

The Bucs would take the match lead for the first time when Charles Clarke would score, and Sean Albury followed with a successful conversion for a 12-10 lead.

Cuckoos would seal the win with a late try from Ashley Roberts for the game’s final margin.

“We expect this year to be a big year for us and we wanted to make a statement very early on.

“Bucs had a good year last year making it to the final and they know what they bring to the table, but at the same time we feel this is the year for Cuckoos to regain our form as the team to beat in the league.”

In 2018 ALIV solidified its exclusive three-year sponsorship of the Bahamas Rugby Football Union.

Chief ALIV partner Alan Bates said ALIV is happy to partner with the Bahamas Rugby Association.

“We are big on our community involvement and equally as big on our involvement in the sporting community,” he said. “Rugby is becoming increasingly popular in the Bahamas and no doubt, ALIV wants to be part of the same. We will assist as best as we can to ensure that the association has all they need to successfully function and carry out all their goals.”

BRA President Manoli Roussos said the partnership with ALIV brings a world of excitement to Bahamas Rugby Association and could not have come at a better time.

“As we are in the transitional stages on promoting and diversifying our sport, ALIV has given us the opportunity to simplify this. Rugby is being played in Nassau and Freeport with a variety of programmes that include youths, men and women. With this sponsorship we will be able to view all games, tournaments and all other events via live feed,” he said.

“It will give us the opportunity to have video and training sessions at all levels of our national programmes to increase the skill level and interest of our players.

“This week our women’s national team travel to Barbados to compete in the Caribbean 7s Championships and thanks to ALIV the women appreciate the support given in preparation of their trip. With this joint venture we look forward in the growth of the sport and making rugby officially ALIV.”

ALIV has agreed to and will provide Wifi services for both rugby field locations, mobile services for various BRA members as well as team prizes for both the men’s and women teams here in New Providence and Grand Bahama.

Last season, Baillou defeated Bucs in the Heineken Bahamas Cup final. Bucs advanced to the final after they defeated Cuckoos in the semis.

Since 2012, Heineken and the BRFU partnered to rename the Annual Bahamas Rugby Cup as the Heineken Bahamas Rugby Cup.

Cuckoos captured the first two editions of the renamed event in 2012 and 2013, while Baillou took the cup in 2014. In 2015, the Buccaneers defeated Freeport 18-7 to claim the cup. Cuckoos then reeled off three consecutive titles from 2016-2018.

The Heineken Bahamas Rugby Cup runs for several weeks of competition with three teams from New Providence (Baillou, Cuckoos and Buccaneers) and one from Freeport (Freeport Rugby Club).