Cayman ready for Big Game 3

(CRFU): National Rugby Coaches Brad Cowdroy (left) and Tim Rossiter have announced their squad ahead of the Cayman vs. Bermuda 2013 NACRA Caribbean Championships fixture (dubbed BIG GAME 3) which is scheduled for 1 June 2013 at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex in George Town, Grand Cayman. The Squad has been tweaked from that which narrowly lost out to USA Rugby South by 2 points in Atlanta, USA on 4 May with National XV’s captain Ben McDonald re-joining the squad as well as the introduction of Joel Clark, Michael Wilson and Saviri Tabuaniwere.

After Cayman’s away loss to USA Rugby South, the Americans travelled to Bermuda on 18 May and piled 24 points on the Bermudans in stark contrast to their encounter against Cayman where they could not find their way to the try line. The USA South’s saving grace against Cayman in the flood like conditions being the boot of penalty kicker Lucas Baistrocchi who scored all of the USA’s 9 points.

Cayman will be looking to overturn their last encounter againstBermuda where Cayman lost 7-3 in Hamilton and whilst there is no chance of progression in this year’s NACRA Championships with both Bermuda and Cayman having lost to USA Rugby South (who now await now await the winner of the Southern Caribbean zone, which could be either Guyana, Barbados or Trinidad and Tobago) both Cayman and Bermuda will be fighting against relegation in their clash.

Coach Cowdroy: “Even though USA South has won the Northern Caribbean region, Big Game 3 is by no means a dead rubber as the loser will be relegated to the lower tier for next year’s tournament and need to qualify back up to this top tier round robin, so both teams have everything to play for…Selecting the team to play Bermuda from the wider training squad has again proved to be a difficult task requiring many discussions and various team composition options being explored… As it is the last game of this year’s campaign, we have no doubt the players chosen will give it their all and not leave anything on the field by the time the final whistle is sounded.”