Fresh off a dominant 68-0 blowout of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados’ national rugby union team is setting its sights on climbing the global World Rugby rankings as it prepares to host Guyana in a critical Rugby Americas North international test match. The showdown is scheduled to kick off at 7:00 p.m. on June 6 at Barbados’ iconic Garrison Savannah venue, and all signs point to a high-stakes, tightly contested battle between two hungry sides.
Barbados enters the fixture riding a wave of momentum that stretches back beyond last weekend’s lopsided win. Twelve months ago, the side secured a historic 45-5 victory over Guyana on the same Garrison Savannah pitch — their first triumph over the Caribbean rival, nicknamed the Green Machine, in almost 20 years. That breakthrough result has injected new belief into the Barbados camp, with players and coaching staff eyeing a repeat performance to cement their upward trajectory in the regional and global rankings.
Guyana, however, is far from a defeated side heading into the contest. Earlier this year, the Green Machine suffered a heartbreaking narrow 9-5 loss to Bermuda on their home turf in Georgetown, leaving the squad eager to bounce back and claim a statement win against Barbados to avenge last year’s defeat. The combination of Guyana’s hunger for redemption and Barbados’ confidence from recent form has set up what many rugby analysts in the region expect to be one of the most competitive Caribbean test matches of the year.
Ahead of the June 6 clash, Barbados head coach Joe Whipple has officially confirmed his full match squad, which includes: Chris Blades, Malique Broomes, Jermaine Bynoe, Nicholas Daniel, Aiden Foley, Antonio Gibbons, Rajiv Grant, John Shane Howard, Louis Johnson, Cadeem Knight, Jamie Lashley, Taurean Marshall, Stephen Millar, Jeremy Nelson, Enrique Oxley, Noah Paskins, D’Andre Phillips, Daniel Ramsay, Josh Rudling, Albert Stoute, Solomon Whittaker, Shane Taylor and Sean Ward. Fans based in Barbados and regional rugby followers across the Americas are already gearing up for what promises to be an electric evening of Caribbean international rugby.