By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net    

THE visiting Jamaican men’s rugby team welcomed the Bahamas men’s national team back to international play with a huge 52-15 decision on Saturday at the Winton Rugby Pitch.

The Jamaicans dominated on both the defensive end and at scrum to pull off the feat, taking control from the opening minutes of the first half and continued to apply the pressure through the game. 

“It was great. The boys really pulled together well and showed great connection and synergy,” said Jamaica’s coach George Saunderson, of players who came in from London, Manchester, Briston, the United States and Jamaica. To score 52 points is unbelievable. After Bermuda pulled out of the intended match against the Bahamas, Saunderson said when they got the call, they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play in The Bahamas.

Bahamas coach Steve Thompdon said they just simply ran into a quality side against Jamaica.

“All of these guys are playing rugby in the UK and most of them reside in the UK, so for us, it’s just a matter of rebuilding the programme after Covid-19.

“But I’m super proud of the guys. They played with every bit of heart and energy they could possibly play with. In the first half, we played with two yellow cards, which meant wie were a man short, but we can’t do that in international play and expect to win.”

Thompson said they just have to continue work when they resume in September. Hopefully when the next international event rolls around, they will be better prepared.

The Reggae Boyz taking a 7-0 lead and losing one of their key players Rasheed Pencle to an injury as he collided with Bahamian Alonzo Williams in the first six minutes of the game, peace had to be rushed to the hospital by ambulance, delaying the continuation of the game for almost a hour until the medical personnel returned.

Saunderson said once Pencle went down, they got into their huddle and were determined “to win this one for Pencle. It was so unfortunate about what happened to him.”

Two minutes after the action resumed, the Junkanoo Boyz finally got on the scoreboard as evin Charlton booted in a penalty shot. The only other score in the half came on another penalty shot by Charlton at the 53:17 mark. 

By that time, the Jamaicans had already surged ahead 36-6 at the break, thanks to tries from Jasper Richardson at the 12:50; Tyreece Henry at 19:18 and MccKenzie Davies at 25:09 with all of their conversions added for good measure.

Charlton, one of the players from Grand Bahama, opened the second quarter with the first score on a penalty shot for a 26-9 deficit and he got another at 56:30 for a 31-15 margin.

But as the fatigue and injuries started to take its toll on the Bahamian tram, the Jamaican kept pushing and running the ball, breaking through the defense for tries from Tyreke Hutchinson at 66:29; Ethan Cornick at 73:58 and Kahil Green at 79:17 with each conversion to seal the deal.

Bahamas co-captain Henry Alex Storr, said they had too many costly errors and were even hit with two yellow card violations in the first half to dig themselves out of the hole in the second half.

“On your best day, it’s hard to come back from that and so we just couldn’t figure them out,” Storr said of the Jamaican stampede. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t come back.

“We racked up some points towards the end and we made a comeback in the second half, but those costly errors hurt us.”

Looking at the performance from Jamaica, Storr said they simply ran the ball and it;s something that they have to learn to adapt too and cover the spaces.