Saint Vincent and the Grenadines national rugby union team
| First international | |
|---|---|
St. Vincent & Gren.  25–36  Saint Lucia 28 May 2005 |
|
| Largest win | |
British Virgin Is.  22–24 St. Vincent & Gren.17 May 2014 |
|
| Largest defeat | |
Barbados  51–0 St. Vincent & Gren.21 April 2012 |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Rugby Union represents Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in international rugby union as the national team and is also the governing body for rugby in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines which is a Tier 3 rugby nation. The club is a full member of World Rugby (formerly the IRB), and is also a member of the North America Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA). Saint Vincent and the Grenadines men's and women's teams compete regionally against other teams in this group.
The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Rugby Union (SVGRU) came into existence on Sunday 18 January 1998, when the first game of touch rugby was played at the Sion Hill playing field using four traffic cones as pitch markers.
It all came about following a chance conversation. This stimulated an expatriate Englishman, John Townend, to return form his Christmas vacation in 1997 with plenty of enthusiasm and two rugby balls. John Townend contacted two Antipodean expatriates: Kelly Glass, a highly accomplished rugby player from South Island, New Zealand and Geoff Hyde, an Australian tourism adviser, suggesting a game of touch rugby the following Sunday morning. There were seven players at the first game: Carver Alexander, Ernst De Freitas, Kelly Glass, Kirk Hobson-Garcia, Geoff Hyde, John Townend and Delon Williams, a local Rastafarian who later became known as “Speedy”.
After playing for two hours, the group retired to Villa Beach with a crate of beer, to re-hydrate (any excuse would do) and to soothe aching muscles in the sea. Rugby had been introduced to St. Vincent.
From the early days there was a strong interest from girls, who took an instant liking to the idea of “touch” rugby. The games then continued every Sunday, and it was soon found that between Kirk, Kelly, Andrew, and Scott Hadley that there were already some excellent and accomplished players on the island. In addition, they were able to attract other good players, namely Derek Hadley who was visiting from Australia and Father Pope Faifal from Samoa, working with the Catholic mission. In terms of the girls, Jackie De Freitas soon joined, together with some Canadian volunteers, namely Janice Madill and Lisa Lilajehto. One other girl who was to become a big favourite was Loretta “Hot Lips” Skrok. She became notorious for her trick of taking a swig of strong rum and “flame throwing” at parties. Peace Corps Volunteers Becky Buster and Maria Caluag also became great team members. The local ranks were swelled by the contribution of Lorna “Turbo” Williams from Overland in the Carib community, Delia King from Calliaqua and Yvonne Bakker from Kingstown.
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