Hornets hold off Caribs to win inaugural Carnival rugby title

By Treiston Joseph

The Pepsi Hornets are the inaugural champions of the Carnival Sevens rugby tournament that concluded on Sunday at the National Park.

The Hornets got a bit of a scare late in the game with Claudius Butts missing a conversion in the final seconds that would have tied the game and send it to overtime; instead the Hornets prevailed with a 12-10 win to capture the title.

The Hornets started fast with Rickford Cummings getting into the end zone early for a try to put them up 5-0. Captain Ryan Gonslaves’ conversion would put the red, white and blue clad team up 7-0.

Despite the soggy conditions, both teams played physical but it was clear in the first half that Hornets was the better side as the found pockets in the defence of the Caribs to exploit.

Cummings again scored the second try for the Hornets after finding a hole and running for about 70 yards to score and put his side up 12-0 heading into the second half.

The second half however, was a totally different story and the Caribs came storming back with Richard Staglon scoring the first try for the side in the age-old rivalry.

With just about a minute to go, Butts broke free and scored to take the game to 12-10, but would fail to hit a conversion that was dead centre between the uprights.

Gonsalves was happy with the win, calling it “crucial” for his club since they were the hosts of the event.