T&T's Women's rugby players pulled off a surprising 18-16 victory over their Mexican counterparts when the action continued in the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Regional Rugby Tournament at the Larry Gomes Stadium in Malabar, Arima Saturday.
Tries from former captain Nicolette Pantor, Zoe Mc Knight and Ketara Monroe, coupled with a penalty by Leah Kintiba ensured the T&T Scarlettes their first win in the three-nation tournament. Soon after the match, coach Richard Staglon said his players showed up on the day.
"It was an overall perfect performance by the team as the players executed perfectly on the game plan. As we had planned, we used the big carriers up the middle of the field and created space for people like Pantor to explore up the sides," Staglon said.
With the win, though, the local ladies finished third in the three-team standings based on the try scores in the matches. It prevented them from being one of the top two teams to advance to another level of the RAN, as both Jamaica and Mexico had a larger margin of victories. Apart from Jamaica's 72-7 demolition of T&T, the Mexicans thumped Jamaica 44-17, while T&T had the lowest score and least amount of tries with its 18-16 victory yesterday.
Staglon said the win was a morale-boosting one for his team after the demoralising 72-7 defeat by regional rival Jamaica about five weeks ago. He said the team had a nearly four-hour meeting after the Jamaica loss, and they dealt with every area of concern.
"Yesterday, the girls just refused to give up. Everyone took responsibility on the field, and although we didn't follow some of the things we did in training, the girls executed well," Staglon said.
The T&T Scarlettes will now face the Cayman Islands in an international friendly encounter on Saturday (July 5) at the Larry Gomes Stadium, from 4 pm. According to Staglon, the game will not enable his team to get points towards their rankings, but it will provide much-needed practice for his charges.
