Bermuda Men’s National Rugby Seven’s team have endured a baptism of fire on day one of the Rugby World Cup 2013 North American and Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) Sevens Qualifiers in Ottawa.
Bermuda opened their tournament campaign against one of the favorites Canada where they went down 48 – 0.
Bermuda looked incredibly young and was little match for the veteran Canadian squad. Beginning from the opening kickoff, the ball seemed to roll the hometown side’s way, and even when it didn’t, Canada did well to turn over ball.
But the first game of the day wasn’t without its errors. From a Canadian lineout, the ball worked wide to Sean Duke, but the finishing pass fell short. Duke recovered nicely, chipped over the defense, and lucked out in the grounding. Duke would repeat the feat in the second half.
Kieran Hearn and Phil Mack added five-pointers before the half, the former simply splitting the defense with hard running, and the latter sneaking into the corner.
Bermuda was only down 15-0 at the break, but the team couldn’t take advantage of any offensive opportunity. Bermuda was penalized twice in the scrum, turned over their own ball, and misfired on kickoffs. Canada had size, height and experience advantage over Bermuda, which allowed the home team to routinely steal possession on kickoffs.
Bermuda’s shoulders started to sag after Canada’s first try in the second half. Their kickoff didn’t go 10 meters, so Canada regrouped in Bermuda’s end. John Moonlight charged upfield, and then hit Chauncey O’Toole for a sideline break to the 10 meter. Just as he was brought down, O’Toole hit Moonlight in support for the five-pointer.
The floodgates opened as Bermuda defense essentially retired, allowing Jeff Hassler (twice), Sean White and Duke to dot down. Connor Braid slotted four conversions for the 48-0 win.
Bermuda next lined up against Mexico where they was again shutout, this time 18-0.
Bermuda have one more game on opening day where they will square off against Bahamas.
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