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A much improved performance saw the Under 19 national rugby team record its first ever international victory in the Caribbean Championships, being held in Grand Cayman. Having been handed a heavy defeat just 2 days earlier by a strong Mexican side, the Bermuda team clearly wanted to make amends and produced a display of controlled running rugby for which Bahamas simply had no answer.

Bermuda were on the score board as early as the 5th minute when Rory O'Kelly-Lynch slotted over a penalty to give a 3-0 lead. This advantage could easily have been reversed as the Bahamas fly half missed a penalty and then made a mess of two drop goal attempts, all in a frenetic first ten minutes. Bermuda's Olly Bassett, who got his first start on tour, was clearly enjoying himself and his good kicking game regularly punished Bahamas as Bermuda looked for an early try. The break through came when from a free kick Brnley Toms powered over from short range to give Bermuda a 8-0 lead. Shortly after the Bahamas fly half was yellow carded for a second high tackle, with captain Shauntino Simons stepping up and slotting the penalty to increase the advantage. Though only 11-0 up Bermuda were taking complete control of the game and putting together some nice phases of play with controlled forward drives and some nice interchanges in the backs. Bahamas only line break of the first half came when there was a defensive mix up and the full back sped through a gap, fortunately second row Aldo Campbell raced across field and put in a superb cover tackle to snuff out the threat. On the stroke of half time Mark James was put into a little bit of space and the big inside centre did the rest, crashing over to give Bermuda a 16-0 lead.

As the second half started, Bermuda clearly stepped up a gear. O'Kelly-Lynch started to pick holes in the Bahamas defense almost at will, as time and time again a desperate Bahamas defense tried to clear their lines but instead fed the Bermuda full back with a steady stream of ball that he duely ran right back to them. One such scything run ended with O'Kelly-Lynch putting Olly Bassett away for what should have been a certain try but credit to the scrambling defense as he was bundled into touch as he went over the try line. Moments later younger brother Tom Bassett had an opportunity to score but the ball was knocked from his grasp as he dived over the line.

Shauntino Simons slotted over another penalty to increase the lead and Bermuda were starting to dominate the game. Bahamas to their credit did not give up but any attacking phases that they tried to put together were often brutally disrupted by most notably the large frame of Lubin Sousa or the destructive tackling of Bermuda's silent assassin Sean Baker.

Midway through the half Tom Bassett made amends for his earlier mistake and made a clean break that got Bermuda right to the tryline, the ball was spun out wide and O'Kelly-Lynch capped a fine personal display with a well taken try that Simons converted. With the win in the bag Bermuda were able to rotate players in and every squad member got some game time in this feel good victory. The icing on the cake arrived five minutes from the end, when captain Simons took a quick penalty and sped a full 60 metres down the left touchline for a nice individual try to make the final score 31-0.

A much more confident Bermuda team now look forward to their final game on Thursday against a strong Guyana team, where a win would see them winners of the Bowl competition

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