HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC – Ian Henderson scored 13 of Bermuda’s points, despite being sin-binned, as they maintained their regional supremacy by beating Guyana 18-0 in yesterday’s Caribbean Rugby Championship final at the National Sports Centre.
Bermuda, who defeated Guyana 11-0 in last year’s final in Guyana, dominated the first half in overcast but humid conditions, running up a 13-0 interval lead, as they kept it tight to blunt the visitors’ running game.
Henderson gave Bermuda the lead with a fourth-minute penalty and he doubled the advantage with a second penalty on 19 minutes.
Hosting the tournament final for the first time, Bermuda tightened their grip in the 27th minute when David Pringle went over in the right corner for a try converted by Henderson.
Henderson missed his easiest kick of the half on 37 minutes and shortly before the break was yellow-carded by Mexican referee Pablo Septien for a foul, punishing the home side after he had warned them over a series of offences.
Tom Edwards, deputising for Henderson, then missed a penalty to increase Bermuda’s lead.
Guyana, visiting Bermuda for the first time after a long trip to the island via the United States, improved after the break but missed the chance to get on the scoreboard when Avery Corbin screwed a penalty wide from almost in front of the posts in the 60th minute.
Five minutes later Henderson, having been restored to the line-up after his 10 minutes on the sidelines, rounded out the scoring when he kicked ahead after a Guyana knock-on and won the race to touch down for a try but missed with his conversion attempt.
Bermuda now advance to the next round of 2015 World Cup qualifiers.
A crowd of around 300 watched the match.
