The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

IT WAS a disappointing finish for the home team in their third game of the group stage at the North America Caribbean Rugby Association Championships.

Jamaica fared better down the stretch amid heavy rain conditions and scored a late try to secure the 17-10 win over the Bahamas at the Winton Rugby Centre yesterday.

The Bahamas got off to a quick start and scored within the game’s opening minutes when Andrew Bodie intercepted a pass and took it up the sideline for a successful try. Kevin Salabie added the conversion to give the Bahamas a 7-0 lead just over three minutes into the match.

The visitors scored the equaliser just minutes later on a try from Owen Linton and a successful conversion made the score 7-7. After the teams exchanged a trio of missed penalty drop kicks, the score stood pat for much of the first half before Jamaica scored a try with just seconds remaining. After a failed conversion they took a 12-7 lead into the half.

In the second half, the Bahamas’ lone score came on a penalty kick conversion to trim the deficit, 12-10.

Both teams struggled to gain traction in the pouring rain, but Jamaica was able to score a late break-away try by Takeem Cleary to cement the win.

The 2014 NACRA Championships were divided into the Championship League and the Cup League. The Bahamas is a member of the Cup League which features eight teams in two divisions, North and South. The North Cup League featured the Bahamas, Jamaica, Mexico and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The Bahamas finished the group stage at 1-2. They opened play in the tournament on May 17 with a 33-18 loss to Mexico but rebounded with a 13-11 win over Turks and Caicos on May 31.

Mexico took the group with a 3-0 record, after they defeated Jamaica 34-8 and ended yesterday with an astounding 97-0 win over Turks and Caicos. Jamaica finished a 2-1 while Turks and Caicos finished winless at 0-3.

As the winners in the Cup League, Mexico will earn an opportunity to play their way into the Championship League by facing off against Bermuda, the third place side among the Champions.

Guyana claimed the 2014 NACRA Championship with a 30-27 win over USA South yesterday in Atlanta, Georgia.

Prior to the NACRA Championship, the Bahamas national team’s preparation was aided by one of the world’s most-capped rugby union internationals, Gareth Thomas.

The focus for the Bahamas Rugby Football Union will now shift to the junior development programme as they enter play in international competition next month.

“We can get back to group one and become a mainstay,” national team head coach Jose Viana said. “The critical thing to develop any sport is to develop the youth programme and develop it early on. Maybe not in the full sense of the game but a beginners version of it. Rugby is something that we have to start early on because it is much easier to teach kids, develop the sport, widen the base, and grow through the club system to build the national team.”

The Bahamas will be a part of the 12-team field at the NACRA Men’s Under-19 Rugby Championships hosted July 12-19 in Trinidad and Tobago at the Fatima College Ground in Mucurapo.

Other participating teams include Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, and USA South.

In a similar fashion to the men’s format, the 12 teams will be split into Cup and the Trophy divisions.

The Bahamas is scheduled to face St Vincent and the Grenadines in the tournament opener 2pm July 12.