By DAVID CHAPPELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

dchappell@tribunemedia.net

ONE of the world’s most-capped rugby union internationals is helping the Bahamas national team to prepare for the forthcoming NACRA Championship. Last night at the Winton Field, Gareth Thomas ran drills for the backs while two fellow Welsh internationals took care of the forwards, teaching them some set scrum and lineout plays.

Thomas is a member of a select group of internationals to have reached a century of appearances for their country. He played 100 times for Wales as fullback, wing or centre between 1995 and 2007 and in 2005 captained the Great Britain and Irish Lions, a representative team of the best of the home nations. His 40 tries ranks him second highest for Wales and amongst the top 12 in world rugby.

Also helping were the Moore brothers, Steve and Andy. Second row forwards, they were forced to retire through injury and now run a company preparing top athletes for when they finish their playing careers.

The Bahamas could do with some expert help after losing 35-7 to the Cayman Islands in a warm-up match in Freeport last weekend. Jose Viana, the coach who introduced the Welshmen to his squad last night, had said after the defeat that the team had to improve its ball possession in order not to end up on the defensive.

Thomas felt that given only a limited amount of time with the players his aim was to assess what they could do and work with them on that. “No matter what level you are you have to have good basics,” he said, adding he hoped to teach the backs something different and encourage them to use their vision during the hour and a half session.

“We give them rugby scenarios and tell them to play whatever is in front of them and go to the spaces,” he said of working on their evasive skills. “Rugby is a physical game: the less you get tackled the better player you are.”

Thomas, who does a lot of rugby work in schools in the UK, is happy to be back in the Bahamas having been on holiday here once. “Rugby is a global game now, it connects people together,” he said, hoping to see countries like the Bahamas “improve and grow to a new level”.

After demotion last season the Bahamas start their Caribbean division 2 campaign against Mexico at the Winton Field on May 17 before travelling to play Turks and Caicos on May 31. They finish the group stage against Jamaica in Nassau on June 28.

Bahamas Rugby Football Union president Steve Johnson expects the emerging Mexico team to provide stiff opposition in the opening match next week. “We’ve beaten them consistently over the years but they will be a difficult team to beat this time and we will need to be at our best,” he said. “They’ve had some impressive wins and beat Bermuda quite handily in Mexico City.”

Johnson encouraged the players to pay attention to what Thomas was telling them last night. “Its a great opportunity for these guys to learn from him. If they listen they will learn a lot.” Missing Dan Woodside, a permanent fixture in the side, with a broken leg is a blow and the focus will have to be more on youth for the future. “We have 30 or 40 kids here three nights a week,” he said encouragingly.