Thursday, July 24 2008

THE DATES for the CONSUR B/NAWIRA play-off matches between Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago have been announced as the Rugby World Cup 2011 qualifying competition gathers pace. The first leg will be in Port-of-Spain on October 11.

The second leg will take place in Brazil on October 18 at a venue yet to be announced. The winners over the two legs will go on to join Chile and Uruguay in the CONSUR A RWC 2011 qualifying tournament, scheduled for May 2009. In April Trinidad and Tobago overcame Guyana 40-24 in the final of the Caribbean Championship, doubling up as the first round of RWC 2011 qualifying in the region, to book their place in the next round. Brazil defeated host nation Paraguay 15-6 in the CONSUR B tournament in Asunción at the end of June.

Caribbean rugby champions Trinidad and Tobago have already started preparations for Brazil and head coach Rhett Chee Ping is taking no chances.

The TT team will need to be at its best if they are to progress to the third round he said.

The last time Brazil played TT, the Samba boys came away winners. TTRFU president Leslie Figaro says that the December 2001 defeat at the Larry Gomes Stadium in Malabar is still a sore point .

“We are determined to beat the Brazilians this time around. The guys are committed and focused. Brazil is the higher ranked team so the task is not an easy one,” he said.

Figaro believes that the all important home and away games will be played in the last quarter of this year.

“Whenever the game is called we must be ready. While it may be difficult to beat Brazil in football, we defeated them in 1996 in a rugby World Cup qualifier.

So even though they got the better of us in 2001 I am optimistic that beating them is not an unrealistic objective,” Figaro said.