History in the making for St Lucia Rugby Football Union

Rugby made history on National Day 2015 at the Mindoo Phillip Park, when the St Lucia Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) launched four new clubs at a special ceremony on a glorious tropical day befitting the occasion. The launching ceremony commenced with a march pass, led by two members of the Cadet Corp followed by players and officials of the clubs. This was followed by the National Anthem played on steel pans by two students from the Camille Henry Memorial School and prayers by Nigel Thomas.

Remarks were then made by several individuals including Fortuna Belrose, President of the St Lucia Olympic Committee. She commended the Rugby Union for its accomplishments and exhorted the club members to play their part in helping to develop the clubs and the sport. The four clubs, namely Sir Arthur Lewis Community College (SALCC), Whiptail Warriors, VBCC Stingers and Fighting Mongoose, participated in a very exciting senior male and female seven-a-side competition after the launching ceremony.

In the preliminary round, the Whiptail Warriors beat all comers to end with a record of three wins from three matches in the male division. The Warriors were followed by VBCC, then Mongoose and then SALCC. This set up the final between Whiptail Warriors and VBCC with Mongoose and SALCC matched up in the Third Place Playoff. In the female segment of the tournament, the Whiptail Warriors and VBCC Stingers females played a best of three competition to determine the tournament champion. The first game was drawn, while the Warriors won the second by a slim margin of 12 points to 7. This meant that VBCC Stingers had to win by a clear try to win the tournament.

Fighting Mongoose narrowly defeated SALCC by a single conversion (two points), in the third Place Playoff match among the males. This was after the spirited lads from the esteemed learning institution, dominated most of the game only to be outdone in the dying stage. The game ended at 17 points to 19 in favor of the Mongoose team. In the finals of the female segment of the competition, there was no holding back the VBCC Stingers women. They jumped out early in the final to establish and maintain a margin necessary to assure victory and the championship. The game ended with the score at 17 to 7.

This form was carried over to the males. In an exciting and ferocious final between the males of the VBCC Stingers and Whiptail Warriors teams, the stingers proved to be too much to handle for the Warriors. When the sparks stopped flying, it was VBCC up by 28 to 17 who came out as the victors and National day Champs. In a presentation ceremony after the tournament, trophies and medals were given to first, second and third place teams and players. Jerry Charles was voted Most Valuable Player and Lenford Eugene received the trophy for scoring the most points. Sharon Charles received the trophy for MVP and Highest Scorer.