More LIVE women's international rugby

Next week's Nations Cup will not be the only women's international rugby available via live webcast this week - the Caribbean XVs Championship in Grand Cayman will also be broadcast live, starting tomorrow evening (our time).

The Caribbean championship is one of the longest running, but also isolated, tournaments. First played in 2003 it has been played more or less annually since 2006. The whole tournament takes place over a single week - much like the European XVs championship.

Unfortunately the many of the region's RFUs find the cost of getting their teams to the tournament too expensive, and rarely has there been an event where every island took part. As a result a Caribbean Select team has now been formed so that the leading players from any islands unable to field full teams can still play.

Previous winners:
2003: (in Trinidad) - Trinidad & Tobago
2006: (in Jamaica) - Jamaica
2007: (in Cayman Is) - Cancelled due to a hurricane
2008: (in Guyana) - Trinidad & Tobago
2009: (in Barbados) - Trinidad & Tobago
2010: (in Bahamas) - Cayman Islands

None of the teams taking part have ever played any outside the Caribbean so it is difficult to know how they compare with the rest of the world. However, this year the tournament takes place in the Cayman Islands - probably the wealthiest member union in the region - and it is promised that all of the games will be available via Cayman Rugby TV - so we can at least watch the games and make our own judgements. Unfortunately, the kick-off times are not that user-friendly.

2011 match schedule:
Sunday 10th July:
10pm (UK time) - Trinidad vs Caribbean Select
Midnight - Cayman Is vs Jamaica

Wdnesday 13th July:
2am: Jamaica vs Trinidad
4am: Cayman Is vs Caribbean Select

Friday 15th July:
2am: Jamaica vs Caribbean Select

Saturday 16th July:
2am: Cayman Is vs Trinidad

(This does beg the question - again - about why, if rugby unions in the USA and Canada and Latvia and the Caribbean and so on can all manage to webcast their games, why unions in the UK and Ireland are still in the technological dark ages...)