Rugby: Cable & Wireless Island Nations Cup |31 January 2024

Sharks v Pirates

Reigning champions Sharks top table after first series of matches

Defending champions Sharks have started their title defence campaign in the Cable & Wireless Island Nations Cup on a high, registering a 43-26 win over Pirates in their first league match on Saturday at Stad Popiler.

Led by captain Tyrone Abrosie, Sharks dominated the match with last year’ league’s top scorer Johannes Hanekom chipping in 20 points.

Sharks are presently leading the ranking on three points, having scored 43 and conceded 26 for a nett 17.

Red Snappers, who defeated Black Parrots 36-31, are presently second, also on three points but with an inferior points difference to Sharks, having scored 36 and conceded 31 for a nett five points.

After edging out the Flying Foxes 25-24, Marlins are presently third overall, also on three points, with a single point net.

Following defeats, the Flying Foxes, Black Parrots and Pirates are fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, without any point, separated only by their nett difference.

Hanekom is presently leading the scoring with 20 points, followed by Jesse Muthoka (Black Parrots), Gael Esparon (Marlins), Etienne Venter (Red Snappers), Bradley Jardine, Luke Fonseka (Pirates) who have scored 10 points each.

Third are Mario Pragassen (Black Parrots) and Ernst Buys (Flying Foxes) who have scored nine points each.

For the 2024 season, other than mixing up the teams through a central pool for drafting to ensure a level playing field amongst all the six teams, to guarantee a high level of competition amongst teams, and to continue the efforts towards inclusivity and building relationships beyond the field, the Seychelles Rugby Union (SRU) has also come up with a new format of play and field lay-out.

They have extended the try scoring zone and made the try line a distinctive yellow colour so that it is clear to see for attacking and defending players, while they have also removed the extra points scored for touching the ball down in a certain area and have included drop goal conversions instead that replicates that of 7s rugby.

This means one can score a try and get five points, if the kick is converted for an additional two points.

Roland Duval