Failure to heed the late Carew’s warning about snakes in the grass led to Rubis succumbing 6-4 to Snake Bites in the final of First Citizens Barbados Open 6-Goal tournament at the Holders Playing Field, Holder’s Hill, last Sunday.
The hitherto unbeaten Rubis team of Stewart Gill, Roddy Williams Oliver Taylor and Oliver Williams faltered when it mattered most. They simply had no antidote to counteract the venom of the Snake Bites team of Max Kirchart, Richard Deane, Christan Chavez and David Ashby.
It was Rubis who took the attack to their opponents from the opening whistle, immediately drawing first blood with a strike from Roddy Williams.
However Snake Bites bit back with a gem of a shot from the mallet of David Ashby just before the end of the first chukka.
A defensive blunder early in the second chukka by a Rubis player saw Deane breaking free from the pack and blasting a shot from 20 yards that ricocheted off the goal post and into the back of the bars.
However, his glory was short-lived as Rubis captain Gill scored possibly the goal of the match.
With his mount going at full throttle, he executed a cross-arm flick from under his pony’s neck that somehow bissected the bars at the southern end of the field. It was met with shouts of approval by the moderate crowd on hand to witness the derby.
Two minutes into the third chukka, Chavez made it 3-2 in favour of Snake Bites. Soon after, Ashby, who was having a cracker of a game, made it 4-2 by converting a 20-yard penalty after being fouled in the 20-yard box.
The final chukka started with Snake Bites up 5-3, but Taylor soon converted a 20-yard penalty to cut the defecit.
However, with only 40 seconds left in regulation time, Ashby produced some more magic to seal the deal for Snake Bites when his 60-yard penalty found its target.
He was duly voted MVP of the match.
(CH)
