The Rugby Americas North (RAN) Under 19 Tournament got underway in Barbados.
Bermuda opened the tournament taking on USA Rugby South.
At halftime Bermuda found themselves trailing USA Rugby South 8 - 5 in a hugely exciting Men’s Under-19 match.
USA Rugby South would score 8 more points in the second half and shut Bermuda out to record a 16 - 5 win.
Bermuda went into their second game with renewed focus knowing that to make the Semi-Finals they would have to defeat Jamaica and they did just that 21 - 7.
The Bermuda team showed good composure and executed their structure extremely well in this half. Jamin Hodgkins' tactical kicking put the Bermuda team just outside the Jamaican try line. Bermuda's superiority in the line out was evident as Jake Field-Lament jumping at 2, secured the ball and the Bermuda pack formed a very dominant maul. However, the two early Try’s were scored when the Jamaican 10 dropped the ball in his own try area on two occasions.
Ben Crayford pounced on the ball for Bermuda's first Try and Ben Westhead for the second. Hodgkins kicked two excellent Conversions to make the score 14-0. Bermuda's last try was an excellent team effort. Khibir Dill for Bermuda took the kickoff and set up a good platform for the box kick.
Hodgkins chased and the scrum half dropped the ball under pressure which was scooped up by Matthew Daniel and shifted wide to Jakee Simons who out-paced the defense to score in the corner, Hodgkins converted from the corner to make it 21-0.
The second half was a completely different game and Jamaica came out with a fighting spirit. They put Bermuda under pressure and won numerous penalties, however, some handling errors out wide let Jamaica down.
Bermuda showed some excellent defense and fight themselves, which is something that was missing in the previous game. With the game becoming heated, a Jamaican player was red-carded for a dangerous tackle.
The game became scrappy and both Bermuda and Jamaica had players sent to the sin bin for repeated offences. On the last play of the game, Jamaica ran through a few holes in the Bermuda defense to make the final score 21 - 7.
