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Saint-Barthélemy's rugby players were defeated at home on Saturday evening by defending champions Good Luck du Gosier by a margin of just two points, 18-20.
This is the third season in a row that the Barracudas have had to make do with third place in the league, and in the end, the advantage of hosting the play-off semi-finals failed to materialize, in front of the home crowd in Saint-Jean.
As a statistic, this was the only time all season that the "ciels et blancs" didn't score a try during a match, and it had to happen during the home play-off... To rack up the points, the Saint-Barths had to rely on their full-back and coach Romain Viriato. He converted the errors of commitment of a Good Luck de Gosier side who had come to fight and were ready for the feat. For their part, the Gosiers had come on a "commando" mission, well aware that winning in Saint-Jean is never easy. Their hard work was rewarded with 3 tries, two from the young three-quarter Gerard and one from the muscular forward Ramos. Their 20-point haul was rounded off by a penalty and conversion from Feuvry. For Barracudas Romain Viriato, the shower was cold but the defeat was logical: "We're very disappointed, we have regrets, but we can't lie to ourselves either, we didn't play a good game, we just weren't good. Good Luck deserves this victory. In the first half we didn't do too badly, but in the second half we didn't get any more balls in touch and we were outplayed at the back. The score may have looked close at first, 50/50, but it wasn't when the final whistle went. The whole team would like to apologize to the public and our volunteers, who are always there for us. We would have liked to offer them a final. "
For Gosier's Good Luck, winning in Saint-Barth means that the team-mates of Johnny Ramos, who scored on the night, can defend their title in the final against Bruc on June 7. "We had a tough first twenty minutes of the match, but then we got better, producing some good play and scoring some tries. We weren't afraid to play our hearts out, and we need to keep that spirit going into the final," explains the front row of the 2025 West Indies-Guyana runners-up. After a successful regular season, but disappointing in the play-offs, the Barracudas will have to catch up quickly next season with better ingredients to go further, according to Romain Viriato: "We're going to do our utmost not to suffer too many departures or stoppages in the squad during the off-season, and we intend to prepare ourselves better to offer our fans semi-finals at home again, and pass this milestone this time. "
For consolation, Saint Barth rugby will be represented one last time in this 2024-2025 season, when the final of the senior women's championship takes place this Saturday at 6pm in Goyave. Les Rascasses, the women's section of the Saint Barth club, along with the Archigirls of Saint Martin, under the aegis of the Northern Isles entente, will represent Northern Isles rugby by challenging the title-holders Good Luck de Gosier. After a brilliant second-place finish in the championship, the highly-motivated girls of the entente are set to contest a historic final for the club and for women's rugby in the Northern Isles this Saturday at La Rose Goyave.
