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Bermuda's preparations for next month's Conyers Youth Cup rugby tournament in Cayman got into full gear on Sunday as the Bermuda U14 team took on a touring side from the English school Yardley.

Yardley toured the island two years ago, and on that occasion Bermuda was given a solid rugby lesson with Yardley notching up two convincing wins. This time it was a chance for the hosts to turn the tables on the visitors who were just off the plane and possibly a bit jet-lagged.

The match started with some fluid and controlled back play by the visitors, drawing in the Bermuda players before a probing run saw them touch down over the Bermuda line early on. Concern in the Bermuda camp that there would be a repeat of the last encounter was halted when flanker Kevin Fraser cleaned up a scrappy ball, went wide and outpaced the opposition at a blistering pace to touch down under the posts. That finished the scoring for the first period of play.

A few minutes after the break, Graham Cooke stole a Yardley ball at the back of the line-out and powered his way over for another Bermuda try. Bermuda finally began to take control of the game, proving to be dominant at the breakdown. Brian Egan and Giles Lorimer Turner repeatedly set up controlled second phase play, and Yardley were largely deprived of the ball, although they looked dangerous whenever they had it.

A try by Tadgh O'Shaughnessy after an elusive run suggested that this might be Bermuda's day. This was settled by a powerful run nearly the full length of the pitch by newfound fullback Ryan Brown who scored under the posts. Shortly after, Daniel Nash raced to gather up a clearance kick and touched it down over the line.

The visitors responded with two well-taken tries, but further scores by O'Shaughnessy (2), Cooke, and Brown gave the hosts a fairly comfortable 9 tries to 3 win. The two teams will meet again on Saturday when the visitors hope to be fresher and will look to even the score.

Select sides in the U10, U12, U14 and U16 age groups will be travelling to Cayman in 3 weeks' time. Bermuda will be seeking to retain the Conyers Cup, which the locals won last year when the tournament was played in Bermuda.

All age groups are currently undergoing intensive training in preparation for the trip.

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