Jamaica’s teams open Rugby Americas North tourney with wins

WITH HOME-FIELD advantage at the University of the West Indies, Mona bowl, Jamaica’s under-19 men’s team and their senior women’s counterparts got off to winning starts at yesterday’s opening day of the Rugby Americas North competition, which got under way with the men’s sevens competition and the women’s 15-a-side events.

The Jamaican senior women got the ball rolling in what was a return to the 15’s format, edging out Mexico 12-10, with both sides scoring two tries a piece.

Scrum Half Adina Hunter got Jamaica on the board in the first half after which Samara Toya replied for Mexico. Mexico then took the lead just before the half through Ximena Crespo, but Jamaica came out strong in the second half and scored on the stroke of the resumption through outside centre Melissa McCalla to take a 12-10 lead.

Winning coach Micha Newman was pleased the team was showing good early form.

DONE US PROUD

“I am extremely happy as the girls have gone out and done us proud. We knew it was going to be a tough game, and our defenders showed their resilience as a team despite it being the first 15’s match for a lot of our girls,” said Newman.

In the meantime, Jamaica’s under-19 men showed they will, once again, be a force to be reckoned with in this tournament, trouncing Bermuda 29-3 before hammering Guyana 36-0, thanks to a hat-trick of tries from front-row player Dontae Purcell.

The Guyanese were no match for the Jamaicans, who scored six tries in the game, and Purcell was pleased that he was able to contribute significantly to the team’s good showing on day one of the competition.

“It wasn’t easy scoring the hat-trick, but with the support of my teammates, I got the job done. So hats off to my teammates as it was truly a team effort,” said Purcell.

In other games played on the opening day in the under-19 competition, Trinidad and Tobago defeated Cayman 11-0, while Bermuda battered Guyana 48-0. USA South got by Cayman 19-0 and beat T&T 17-5.

The Jamaicans lead Pool B with six points from their two games, while Bermuda are second on four, followed by Guyana on two.

Over in Pool A, USA South lead with six points, followed by T&T with four and Cayman with two.