January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
National team moves up in ranking after Cayman win
Conditions were very hot and humid but that didn't prevent the teams from producing a fantastic festival of rugby.
In the men's fixture, Bermuda got off to the perfect start when a good move ended with Shauntino Simons stepping off the wing to take a beautiful switch pass to go over near the posts for the opening try. Rich Holden converted to give Bermuda a 7-0 lead.
A fantastic scrum from the pack saw them steal the ball and when the ball was swung wide, it was knocked on with a try looking certain.
Cayman were boosted by this and they struck back through flanker Shaun Gerrard, after a lineout and maul pushed them close to the line. Josh Brown converted superbly from the touchline to tie the game up.
An error from Neville Zuill from a mark saw a hurried clearance that didn't find touch, and Cayman returned it down the line for Phil O'Connor to go over in the corner. Brown missed the conversion but made up for it before half time when cheekily drop-kicking a penalty over after the ball wouldn't stay upright for a placed kick. It left Bermuda trailing 15-7 at half-time.
Strong words must have been spoken at half-time as Bermuda came out quite strongly. Excellent pressure from a kick forward saw Bermuda drive Cayman backwards, and Cayman collapsed the maul.
Half time replacement Greg Fraser calmly slotted the kick. An offside infringement gave Fraser another shot at goal which he duly converted. Impressive flanker Rich Brown then intercepted a wayward Cayman pass and after marauding his way up the pitch, offloaded to Tom Edwards who was taken down with a high tackle.
The resultant penalty was again successfully dispatched by Fraser as Bermuda edged back in front. Bermuda then presented Cayman with a chance to regain the lead after an infringement at the breakdown, but Brown missed to the right of the posts.
More pressure from Bermuda put them deep in the Cayman '22 with a scrum, and after a couple of quick phases, spun it wide to Dave Porter to gleefully dive over in the corner. Fraser wonderfully converted from the touchline and then continued his flawless display with the boot to kick another penalty after another high tackle by Cayman.
It secured a fine 26-15 win over tricky opponents, in which the team showed great character to come back from the half-time deficit. Bermuda have risen one place in the ranking to 55, while the result sees Cayman drop seven places to 69.
Conyers Youth Cup
In the first game of the Conyers Youth Cup, Bermuda won the Under-10 match by 20-5 after a strong performance. Tries from Padraic O'Shaugnessy who scored two, and one apiece from Tyler Kendall and William Montgomery, were enough to see enough the host's challenge.
The Under-12 match was more one-sided, as Bermuda put in a dominant performance to run out 35-0 winners over their Cayman counterparts. Their try scorers were Mikiel Thomas, Liam Bird, James Collins, Logan Ball, Grenville Lines, Tom Hill and Will Lorimer-Turner.
The Under-14 match turner out to be a tense affair, as Bermuda dug deep to edge Cayman out on a 14-5 score-line. Captain Graham Cooke put in a huge performance in leading from the front. Micah Perozzi and Tadhg O'Shaughnessy scored a try each, and Daniel Nash kicked two conversions.
The Under-16 Bermuda side were playing in their first ever 15-a-side match and put a brave performance in, but went down 48-7 to their more experienced opponents. Ashton Dean scored a superb try for Bermuda.
Bermuda retained the Cup with a 3-1 win, again showing the strength of the youth set up on the island.
Credit must go to Cayman for hosting a fantastic weekend of rugby, and for their very impressive online coverage of the games.[[In-content Ad]]
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