Rugby: Cable & Wireless Island Nations Cup Mixed teams for a more friendly and harmonious atmosphere |08 March 2023

More excitement as league grows from four to six selections

The Seychelles Rugby Union officially launched its 2023 season last weekend with opening matches of the Cable & Wireless Island Nations Cup which compared to last season, now features six selections, bringing more excitement and fun to both players and fans.

Initiated last year following the revamped of the union, the league initially featured four selections who battled for the inaugural title.

The four teams who played for the cup last season were Seyboks (made up South African expatriates), Madagascar (made up of Malagasy expatriates), Seychelles (made up of locals) and the International Barbarians (featuring all other nationalities presently residing or working in Seychelles).

According to the chairman of the Seychelles Rugby Union (SRU) captain Luke Fonseka, following post-mortem of the 2022 season, they have decided to have mixed teams this season, thus making the competition a friendlier one, and also giving more players the opportunity to take part in a more sociable environment, rather than being limited to representing their country of origin.

Captain Fonseka explained that for the 2023 season, six team captains were selected and given the task of drafting their teams, picking players from all the four selections, along with new players, while it is also compulsory for all teams to feature four youth players in their line-ups.

He added that the new way of building teams will also bring more balance in terms of play, thus creating more entertainment in the league, while it will also boost the spirit of camaraderie and unity within the sport.

For this season, the six teams battling for the cup are Snappers, Flying Foxes, Sharks, Pirates, Marlins, and Black Parrots.

In the inaugural matches on Saturday, Snappers defeated Black Parrots 89-50, while Flying Foxes were victorious over Marlins 60-27, with Sharks defeating Pirates 43-12.

Toky of the Flying Foxes, Gift Muthami of the Black Parrots, and Dale Thompson of the Snappers were all voted as man of the matches for day one of the league.

After day one of the competition, Snappers are leading the standings on three points, the same points tally as second-placed Flying Foxes and Sharks who are third.

Snappers are however on top based on nett points’ advantage which is 39, compared to 33 for Flying Foxes and 31 for Sharks.

For the inaugural competition last year, Seyboks were crowned champions after accumulating a grand total of 21 points from five wins and a single defeat throughout the series, while converting 92 tries, and conceding 37.

Seychelles finished second overall on 12 points from four wins and two defeats from six outings, converting 44 tries, while conceding 56 for a nett -12.

The international Barbarians were third overall on 11 points after three wins and three defeats in six matches.

They converted 48 tries, while conceding 63 for -15 nett.

Madagascar ended the competition at the bottom on only three points from six defeats in as many matches.

They converted 30 tries and conceded 58 for a nett -28.

Hendrik-Jan Mosca of Seyboks finished the competition with the most tries scored – 17 – while Dale Hampson and Jesse Muthoka of the International Barbarians finished joint second with 13 each.

Johannes Hanekom of Seyboks finished third overall with ten tries converted.

Other than Cable & Wireless, the competition also received the support of Eau Val Riche and Optimum Sports.

Roland Duval