On Day 1 of the NAWIRA U19 2007 RWC Qualifier in Georgetown, Guyana, Jamaica scored a well deserved 19-5 win over the Cayman Islands and Guyana, the reigning Caribbean Champions, were convincing winners against Barbados, 27-0.
Both Cayman and Jamaica took time to settle down in the first half with both teams committing some basic handling errors before finding their feet and confidence to spread the ball through the backline and stretch each others defense. Cayman opened the scoring with a try by winger Vasquez who rounded the Jamaican defense to score in the corner. Scores were evened out just before half time when Walker from Jamaica, who looked dangerous throughout, equalized. In a hard fought second half, Jamaica had the upper hand with tries by Walker and Bedward, both being converted by Fly half Tapper.
In the second game of the day, Guyana played some impressive running rugby to secure a 27-0 victory over a gutsy and courageous Barbados side. Guyana got off to a great start with two scintillating tries, the first by fullback Samaroo and the second by winger Seales, both of which came after skillful handling and straight and fast running by their backline. A further converted try by Prowell gave Guyana a 17-0 lead at the interval. The second half saw the Guyana forwards retain most of possession resulting in further tries by Prowell and Keller. Credit goes to Barbados for playing committed rugby to the final whistle.
All four Caribbean teams will be tested over the coming days when the USA national team and Trinidad & Tobago make their first appearance in the tournament.
Day 2, Monday July 10th Fixtures:
Trinidad & Tobago v Barbados
USA v Cayman Islands