The 9th season of Intercollegiate Rugby League kicked off on Saturday November 23th at the UWI Mona Bowl with the staging of the annual 9s Championship.
The University of West Indies Pelicans, University of Technology Knights, Mico University Crocs, GC Foster Lions, Excelsior Community College Eagles and Caribbean Maritime University Spartans all returned to challenge for the first rugby league title on offer in the 2019-2020 school year. When the dust settled, it was defending champions CMU Spartans who conquered the field and claimed their second hold on the trophy.
CMU earned Group A honours when they got past Mico 8-0 and Exed 16-12. Exed booked their semi-finals spot with a close 16-12 defeat of Mico.
In Group B, UTech was the top seed after defeating UWI 16-8 and drawing 12 all with GC Foster. UWI finished second with a close 20-16 win over GC.
CMU won their semi-final clash with UWI 16-8 while Exed outlasted UTech 16-12. Mico then got past GC Foster 20-8 in the 5th place play-off, while UTech tagged UWI 16-12 for 3rd place.
The final was a humdinger as both CMU and Exed traded tries from start to finish. In the end, it was CMU that claimed a close 20-16 victory. Dylan Davis was the hero for CMU with 3 tries; he got support from Anthony Findlay and Shamoy Stewart with one try each. Exed was led by national player Akeem Murray with 2 tries while fellow national players Javian Murray and Shaquiel Pollack each scored a try.
Intercol rugby league Chair Romeo Monteith commented;
“The tournament was a fantastic start to the rugby league season. We were shocked by the closeness of the scores in each game and that shows just how strong these teams are. The rugby league was both skillful and entertaining and we can’t wait for the commencement of the 13-a-side league in January to see the teams in action again. ”