The Trinidad and Tobago national rugby union team has thus far not qualified for the

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

, but has participated in qualifying tournaments since 1999. They are classed as a tier-three nation by

World Rugby World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

. The national side is ranked 52nd in the world, as of 16 January 2023.

History

Trinidad and Tobago played their first ever rugby international in 1979 in Georgetown against

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

. Trinidad and Tobago lost the contest 8 points to 42. Trinidad and Tobago attempted to qualify for the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup () was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's History of rugby union#The professional era, professional era. Four a ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Their first match of the Americas qualifying tournament was a one-off Round 1 match against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in Port of Spain. Trinidad and Tobago won the game 41 points to nil and advanced to Round 2, where they faced

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and Bermuda in a pool series. Trinidad and Tobago lost their first match 6-35 against Chile, and lost their second against Bermuda 52-6, and were knocked out of the qualifying tournaments. The team were involved in qualifying tournaments for the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...

in Australia as well, participating in the Round 1 Americas tournament. The team defeated

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

51-5 in their first match, and went on to win 12-8 over the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...

in their second game. Trinidad and Tobago then won their third match 23-12 over Bermuda to advance to Round 2. There the team was narrowly defeated 10-11 by Brazil, and then nil to 9 in the second match, and Trinidad and Tobago were knocked out of the tournament. In 2005 Trinidad and Tobago participated in qualifying tournaments for the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

in France. They were grouped in the South of the pool of Round 1a along with

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

and

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

. Trinidad and Tobago won their first match 82-8 over Saint Lucia, though they lost to Barbados and Guyana, finishing third in the pool which ended their qualifying campaign. Trinidad and Tobago compete in the

Caribbean Championship The Caribbean Cup was an association football competition organized by CFU as its top regional tournament for men's senior national teams from the Caribbean. The tournament was held from 1989 to 2017, as the direct successor competition of the ...

, a tournament which includes

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, the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...

, and

.Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ) p78 Trinidad and Tobago win in the Caribbean Cup made them advance to the next round of the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

qualification, where they had to face

. The "Calypso Warriors" faced the notorious improvement of their South Americans counterparts and they lost both games, 31-8 at home and 24-12 away, ending their hopes to qualify again. In

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, Trinidad and Tobago won the NACRA Rugby Championship, defeating Mexico 30-16 in the final.

Results

World Cup

* 1987 - Not invited * 1991 - 1995 - Did not enter * 1999 - 2015 - Did not qualify

NACRA / Rugby Americas North

* Champions in 1967, 1973, 1983, 1985, 1997, 1999 (co-champions), 2001, 2008,

Overall

Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by the Trinidad and Tobago national XV at test level up until 16 June 2018:

References

External links

Trinidad and Tobago
on IRB.com
Trinidad and Tobago Rugby Football Union

Trinidad and Tobago
on rugbydata.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trinidad And Tobago National Rugby Union Team Rugby union in Trinidad and Tobago Caribbean national rugby union teams

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

1979 establishments in Trinidad and Tobago