Photo courtesy of VINO
By VINO
After a period of sustained pressure early in the first half, Rory Thornton opened the scoring for the Virgin Islands with a 30 yard penalty and went on to add a couple of conversions to his tally after both Thomas Wilson and Matt Holmes had scored to give the VI a 15-10 half time lead.
However, a fitter looking Barbadian team hit back strongly in the second half.
The VI were camped in the Barbados 22, but were unable to extend their lead before Kevin Carter scored an opportunist break away try, which he also converted to make it 17-15 to Barbados.
The VI came back strong with a prize of matches against the likes of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago up for grabs and got their chance to go back ahead with ten minutes to go.
Thornton though, would see a penalty kick from in front of the posts go wide and with it the last chance for the VI to win the game.
A bitterly disappointed VI Captain, Rory Thornton, was in a philosophical mood after the game. “We made them play our game for the best part of the game, we knew they had more individual talent, but the one thing we have been doing lately is coming together as a team and we did that really well today. Individually everyone had a great game, but as a pack we didn’t produce enough clean ball for the backs to exploit.”
Coach Sherlock “Solo” Solomon was heartbroken to see his team come so close to what would have been a famous victory. “It broke my heart!” he said.
“[It was] a game we clearly should have won, but lost by two points. We can take a lot from the game though, especially with the youngsters. The Forwards didn’t do as much as I hoped in providing the likes of Noel Maxwell and Austin Kiel opportunities. I think we were a little nervous at times and soft in defence, but when a game is that close it only takes one moment to win or lose it,” he said.
