U18 rugby girls win silverware on debut

By Cayman Sports Buzz
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Updated: 7 March 2018

It’s been an amazing seven months for Cayman Rugby Football Union’s U18 girls sevens programme, with it being built from scratch to returning home with silverware from the prestigious Las Vegas Invitational Sevens tournament.

This group of young ladies was the first Cayman Islands underage girls team that has ever travelled to competition. Making their debut, they found the going rough on the first day coming up against the reigning champions EORU, Liberty North and Land Park in the high school division. They lost all three but showed they were able to learn from the experience and increased their game awareness.

On day two, they came out motivated for the shield semi-final against Crusaders. Cayman won the close contest 19-15 with a game-saving tackle by Sami Galvin, running from the far side of the pitch to tackle a Crusaders player and dislodged the ball over the try line.

It was on to the shield final, where they earned their silverware with a dominant 46-0 win over Cheveliers.

“We came away absolutely ecstatic with how the girls performed,” coach Laura Willighan told CaymanSportsBuzz.com. “We knew they were good; we knew they were prepared, passionate and skilled but to actually come away with some silverware from a prestigious tournament like that, we couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

Captain Ria Plunkett was happy with the learning experience and winning their final two games. “It gave us a chance to show what Cayman rugby girls can do and how we’ve developed from not having a team,” she said.

Willinghan said they were also excited about the performance because there were some outstanding players who were not among the dozen who went to the Las Vegas tournament.

She said while the growth on the field has been tremendous in such a short while, what’s needed now is getting more girls to come out. “Increasing the amount of people participating is key and this is only the beginning. This is nowhere near where they are going to be.”

Training will now continue in the build up to the domestic sevens competition season finale. These games will take place on 14 April at 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Training times are Wednesday 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 a.m. at South Sound Rugby Club.

The travelling squad was Tya Bouvell, Sami Galvin, Ciara Galway, Mya Heiss, Jasmine Line, Pippa Parker, Ella Plunkett, Ria Plunkett (Captain), Kaylee Scott, Elana Sinclair, Skylar Smith(Vice-Captain), Eleri Stabler. Coaches: Katy Bayles and Laura Willighan. Tour Manager and youth development coach Edward Westin.