-Jamaica wins against dogged Cayman Islands
By Calvin Roberts
Host Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago played to an exciting 5-5 draw whilst the defending champions Jamaica wrote their names in the scorers column with a 12-7 victory over debutantes Cayman Islands as action in the Demlife/Tropical Rhythm-sponsored North America West Indies Rugby Association (NAWIRA) Women’s 15-a-side rugby competition hosted by the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) continued at the National Park yesterday.
Following their shocking come-from-behind victory over the Jamaicans in their first round matchup, the youthful Trinidadian side, led by robust play from captain Julian Straker, dominated the Guyanese in the feature match of the day.
Had it not been for some sturdy defence by the host, the scorecard would have showed a different result – one in favour of the Twin Island Republic team – who were relentlessly attacking their opponents goal line throughout the game.
Guyana’s Abigail Tinnis, who was expected to feature prominently in this match, was a mere onlooker and had to be content with performing defensive duties as the Trinidadians prevented her from getting the ball and even when she did get a touch, she was given no room to display her spirited runs on the wings.
Trinidad did not ease up on attack with Straker and the burly Sojourner Hyles-Lewis pushing the ball into their opponents half with superb assistance from forward Laura Moses, who enjoyed a good day in the field.
The youthful Trinidadians, as they did in their first round encounter, played this game without any substitutions.
Despite their attacking mode, it was the team from the Land of Many Waters who scored the first try in the 28th minute of play.
Winger Tricia Munroe received a gem of a pass from Latoya Hamilton who retrieved a loose ball following a scrum and, after making inroads into the Trinidadians’ half, sent a pass to Munroe who eluded her markers twice to score the try.
The resulting kick to further send Guyana two points ahead was missed by full back Andrea Lashley who was having a bad day in the field.
The miss would prove costly to the home team as Trinidad continued to attack their opponents and it was from one such attack that they got the equalizer.
Once again, it was Straker, who, in collaboration with Hyles-Lewis, carried the ball deep into the Guyanese half up to two metres from the touch line.
The resulting scrum saw Moses pouncing on a loose ball which she passed to Straker who found her full back Merlin Blackford in open space and watched with delight as the latter scored the try.
Like Guyana, the Trinidadians too missed the spot kick which would have sent them ahead, and, at the half, the score was knotted at five points apiece for both teams.
On more than one occasion, in the second half, Hamilton and Shennel Daniels were forced to work overtime to thwart the efforts of Moses and company who were trying desperately to put their team in the lead.
Lashley must have blamed herself for her performance, taking into consideration the fact that she was rushing the plays especially in some dead ball situations.
She also had the opportunity of closing off the game for her team when they were awarded a penalty kick in the dying stages of the game from about 20 metres from the Trinidadian touch line.
Spurred on by the vociferous crowd who were on their feet at this time, Lashley stepped up to take the kick but to the disappointment of her team mates and the throng of supporters gathered on the sides, the ball went eight feet to the right of the goal mouth and when the referee blew his whistle signalling the end of the game, the Trinidadians were dancing and hugging each other even as their number two ranked opponents watched on in utter disappointment.
In the first game of the double header, Jamaica staved off a strong challenge from debutantes Cayman Islands to triumph 12-7.
The ‘Reggae Girls’ were the first to open the score sheet when full back Misty Stewart scored a try in the sixth minute of play. The resulting kick was missed and this brought some life back into the debutantes who continued to surge forward despite being down.
The Jamaicans did not sit on their lead but counter attacked the Islanders and scored their second try four minutes after getting the first, courtesy of Sandy Thompson. This time around, Kaydian Gayle made no mistake in converting the kick and when the whistle went to signal the end of the first half, the score line read 12-0 in favour of Jamaica.
A resurgent looking Cayman Islands started the second half in search of their first try of the tournament and Lady Luck smiled on them, when full back Olive Macdonough pounced on a loose ball from a scrum and wormed her way through the defence to score the try, becoming the first player from her team to do such in the process.
The resulting kick that followed was converted by skipper Gill Comins and this brought some life back into the Cayman Islands team who threw all they had at the Jamaicans, forcing them to go on the defensive in the process.
When the final whistle came the result remained unchanged, thus ensuring the defending champions etched their names into the points column.
With Saturday being the final day of the competition, joint leaders and host Guyana will oppose Jamaica from 1600hrs, whilst Trinidad and Tobago who are at the top of the leader board with the Guyanese will be engaging The Cayman Islands in the first game from 1400hrs.
