The Bermuda Under 19 Rugby squad brought the Caribbean Championship Trophy home for the 1st time after beating favorites Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) by 18 - 15 in the Final in Nassau. Bermuda had topped their pool after beating Bahamas 12 - 10 with a last gasp try and easily whitewashing Cayman 22 - 0. Trinidad had also won their pool by beating Barbados and Mexico.
Brian Toms the team Assistant Manager reflected on the final game, Toms started by saying, “In the final against Trinidad, after falling behind from 3 tries to 2 penalties 15 - 6 with 15 minutes left, our comeback kids started a gutsy late rally when prop Brynley Toms crossed for Bermuda's first try after a lot of pressure by the dominant Bermuda pack near the T&T try line. David Lunn was in fine form with the boot and slotted the conversion to make it 15 - 13 after he had earlier kicked two penalties. The Bermuda forwards had softened up the Trinidad pack throughout the match with Nick Chilvers, Sean Baker, Somers Brewen, Dylan O'Kelly Lynch and Toms taking total control in the tight exchanges.
Then with 5 minutes left, Lunn made a break from his own half and was cut down 15 meters from Trinidad's line. At the resulting scrum, Toms picked up from No 8 and barged over the Trinidad line but was held up. The ensuing Bermuda scrum 5 meters out from the Trinidad posts saw defenders congregate close to the scrum in an attempt to close down another anticipated pick up and charge by Toms.
Captain Somers Brewin cleverly called a training field back row move where Toms picked up and switched with Brewen at flanker who realized there were only two Trinidad defenders on the blind side. Brewen found Rory O'Kelly Lynch coming at pace from full back position who fed a well-timed pass to wing Patrick Richardson who crashed over for the winning score - a shocked Trinidad team and coaches went silent as Lunn's attempted conversion fell just short for a dramatic 18 - 15 lead with one minute left to full time.
Even though the Bermuda forwards kept most of the possession in the first half through a game plan that saw total domination of possession thus denying Trinidad possession, Trinidad had scored 3 unconverted tries after their powerful back three runners took advantage of the few Bermuda mistakes. Trinidad could have gone further ahead but for two brilliant try-saving tackles from man-of-the match Aldo Campbell who looked very accomplished in his new position at blind side flanker.
With the half time score of 10 – 3 Bermuda coach James Adderley insisted on the forwards continuing their forward dominance and play a 9-man style of rugby until gaps opened up. This tactic was a masterstroke that eventually broke the back of the Trinidad pack and saw the final determined surge which resulted in two well-deserved tries. Richardson driving the final nail in the coffin 2 minutes from the end with his powerful try was the final act.”
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