Caribbean Women’s Rugby Championship
| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2003 |
| Replaced by | NACRA Women's Rugby Championship |
| Countries | 4 (in 2009) Cayman Islands Guyana Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago
|
| Most recent champion(s) |
Trinidad and Tobago (2009) |
The NAWIRA Caribbean Women’s 15-a-side Rugby Championship, to give the competition its full title, was a small tournament run by the IRB through NAWIRA - the North America and West Indies Rugby Association. Seven-a-side rugby is growing inter-island sport, but the full 15-a-side game is significantly more resource intensive and so it was only with the financial support of the IRB that the first tournament took place in December 2003.
Only Trinidad and Jamaica took part in that first event, Trinidad winning over two legs in Port of Spain. In September 2006 a second event was organised, this time in Kingston, Jamaica and featuring Guyana. The hosts were again winners by the narrowest of margins.
The tournament now takes place annually, although the 2007 edition as cancelled at the last minute owing to a hurricane hitting the Cayman Island where the tournament was due to take place.
After 2009 NAWIRA was reorganised as NACRA (North America and Caribbean Rugby Association) in order to better encourage participation by unions outside the English-speaking West Indies. From 2010 the tournament became the NACRA Women’s Rugby Championship. However, a separate play-off for the Caribbean title was organised for the island teams taking part.
Six nations have taken part in the Caribbean Women's Rugby Championships held to date:
The third championship was arranged to take place in the Cayman Islands, starting 19 August 2007, but was cancelled the day before it was due to start as a result of Hurricane Dean. Three teams had been due to take part - Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago.
Trinidad and Tobago reclaim the Caribbean title - see IRB website for report.
The Barbados Rugby Union hosted the 2009 Women's Caribbean 15 a-side championships between June 21 and 27 at the Garrison Savannah, Bridgetown, Barbados.
According to NAWIRA competing teams were expected to be Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. However Guyana - the favourites - withdrew a few weeks before the tournament citing financial difficulties, and Jamaica then withdrew on the eve of the event for similar reasons. The result was a very one-sided affair, with Trinidad retaining their title without conceding a point.
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