January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Young Byes defeat Boston team 17 to 5
Young Byes defeat Boston team 17 to 5
Bermuda won 17-5 to the delight of the home crowd who had also come to witness the Bermuda Rugby Football Unions Easter Sevens Tournament. It marked the second annual game between the Boston and Bermuda teams.
The visitors rarely threatened the Bermuda try line as the local boys put up a solid defensive wall against the hard charging Americans while employing acute tactical kicking and penetrating runs up the midfield and on the flanks to keep play in their opponents' half of the field for the majority of the game.
After a quiet start to the match the game erupted in intensity when fly half Will Howard was high tackled by one of the Brookline back row and subsequently left the field.
Constant pressure and hard tackling by the Young Byes nullified early pressure from a Brookline foray into the Bermuda half and resulted in a spilled American pass which was scooped up by local speedster Alex White who left his chasers in the dust as he raced the length of the field to score the first try of the game.
Bermuda back row forward Marcus Symonds got his reward for his hard work getting around the park and in the loose pieces when he took the ball from 25 meters out and powered by three would-be tacklers to score.
The U.S. replied by a solo effort from scrum half John Jacobs who took advantage of Bermudian complacency at a penalty, tapped the ball quickly, and sprinted around the outside of the napping defense to score in the corner.
The unfortunate score woke the Young Byes up and they reasserted their dominance and closed out the scoring with a well taken try by Shauntino Simons who was playing in his fifth game off the day after also appearing for the Teachers Rugby Football Club side in the sevens tournament.
BDA 24, Brookline 17
The second match of the weekend was a full blooded 15-a-side game played in horrendous conditions at BAA on Easter morning. Despite the driving rain both sides strived to play attractive running rugby and the sparse but hard core crowd enjoyed a pulsating match in which the lead changed hands 4 times before finally going Bermuda's way 24-17.
Bermuda's Young Byes started the game well and early pressure was converted when hard running and hard hitting hooker Baron Bartley drove over from close range to score the first try of the game. This early try acted as a wake up call to the visitors Brookline and with Scrum Half and Captain Jacobs pulling the strings his well drilled forward pack started to make yards and dominate possession. Bermuda defended well but when Full Back Patrick Richardson had his clearance kick charged down the US team scored and then converted their try to take the lead 7-5.
Hard running by Centres Kia Edwards and Mark James were repelled by desperate U.S. defence and somewhat against the run of play it was Brookline who added to their score with another forward orientated try. Almost from the restart however Mark James, who was putting in a Man of the Match display, broke free and scored to reduce the deficit to two points.
Good pressure by Brookline resulted in their third try as the game started to swing their way. Neither team added to the scoreboard for a twenty minute period as the game became a bit of a mud bath.
Bermuda was not about to let this one slip however and Richardson made up for his previous mistake with a typically strong run smashing would be defenders out of his way to score a nice individual score. Andre Landy calmly slotted the conversion to draw Bermuda level with the opposition.
With only minutes remaining and with the Brookline defense tiring it came down to speedster Alex White to repeat the heroics of the previous day as he collected a kick and out sprinted the cover to score the winning try and spark wild celebrations for the team and its somewhat wet supporters.[[In-content Ad]]
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