About Cayman Big Game

From Cayman Rugby

PHOTO: big-game-crowd

A new concept in delivering International fixtures, Cayman Big game 1 (Cayman v Mexico) and Cayman Big Game 2 (Cayman v Bahamas) and Cayman Big Game 3 (Cayman v Bermuda) were massive successes each event attracting over 2500 fans and more than 500 corporate guests.

With the internationals being played at Truman Bodden these were huge days where vendors sold goods, food and drinks and local artists entertained the crowd late into the evening. The Rugby was pretty good too, with Cayman winning all internationals on home soil.

Big Game 4 is set for July 14 2014 when Cayman will host USA South and, as always, the plans for Big Game 4 will be bigger and better!

Tri-Championship kicks off Saturday……11th January 2014

With the holiday season over and 2013 all but a distant memory the Cayman Islands Rugby Football Union can focus on yet another action packed domestic Rugby season which kicks off this weekend with the start of the Alex Alexander Memorial Trophy competition.

The Alex Alexander Trophy Memorial competition runs over 6 weekends from January ending in March before leading to the DART Vase knockout competition which runs over 2 weekends in March and April.

The Heineken Charity Shield which was decided back in December (and won by the John Doak Architecture Iguanas RFC over the previous holders the Advance Fire and Plumbing Buccaneers RFC) officially marks the start the Rugby XV’s season but the Premier, and most coveted trophy is the Alex Alexander Memorial.

The current holders of the Alexander Memorial are the Iguanas RFC but the Buccaneers, Queensgate Pigs Trotters and Fidelity Bank Cayman Storm will be looking to unseat the current champs.

Winning the league is no easy feat as teams will suffer from injuries, absent players and of course hard hitting rugby and with an evenly balanced league it will be anyone’s guess as to who will march out to be early favorites.

Games are free to watch at the South Sound Rugby Ground or online at www.caymanrugbytv.com

Upcoming Fixtures

11 January 2014

2pm: Advance Fire & Plumbing Buccaneers vs. Fidelity Bank Cayman Storm

4pm: Queensgate Pigs Trotters vs. John Doak Architecture Iguanas

Photos by Caroline Deegan:

Cayman Rugby TV

The Cayman National Men begin their 2014 preparations for the CACSO games with a trip to Las Vegas 23-25th January in the Las Vegas Invitational Elite 7s Competition including national teams USA Falcons, Canada Maple Leafs, Trinidad & Tobago, Peru, Belgium, Chile and of course Cayman.

Cayman squad of 12 players to compete

Squad: Richard Lewis, Edward Westin, Chris Palmer, Adam Keenan, Justin Wight, Venasio Tokatokavanua, Marco DuPlessis, Paul Westin, Jonathan Murphy, Chris Kennedy, Alex Pineau and one other yet to be confirmed after injury tests.

This competition is a step up from the recent NACRA sevens held in Cayman in November where the men’s team were somewhat disappointed with their performances. CEO/Director Rugby Richard Grizz Adams elaborated on the NACRA performance and the development plans for 2014.

The team had high hopes of winning the NACRA regional championships and qualifying for the 2014 Commonwealth games. Once again we did not perform well on Day 1 and the loss to Trinidad ended our Commonwealth games ambitions. What made it worse was the fact that we led that game and then just made way to many unforced errors for players of this caliber. We were all disappointed with the result as we knew we were much better than the performances we displayed on day 1. On day 2 we did well but in reality if you are out of the main competition who really cares. I have reviewed the game tapes literally hundreds of times now as well as reviewing our training and training games performances. I believe we have isolated three areas where we need to really step up our game and 2014 will be used to develop these areas as well maintain our other phases of play. Las Vegas is a fantastic tournament as you can see from the quality of teams that compete. We have huge ambitions for a small Island National with a tiny playing population and are working hard to realize these ambitions through a structured Strategic Development Plan that deals with Rugby seven’s players development from early age through International senior players. We are very fortunate to have massive support from Maples with our Sevens Academy. So far we have potentially identified the following tournaments as development tournament for the National team. Las Vegas – January, Cape Fear invitational– June, Serevi Invitational – July, NY sevens September and CACSO and NACRA sevens November. In addition to this, plans for the Cayman players currently at University in the UK to form a Cayman Team in the UK that will play fourteen tournament through the summer of 2014 has taken big steps forward in recent weeks with sponsorships and support being promised.

For more go to: http://www.caymanrugby.com/