30Jamaica’s Minister of Sports Olivia Grange has heaped praise on Jamaica’s Rugby Sevens team after the unit defeated Guyana to crown themselves champions of the 2017 Men’s Rugby Americas North Sevens.
In the finals of the tournament, played in Mexico City, Jamaica defeated Guyana 28-24 in dramatic fashion scoring a try in the last minute of the bruising encounter.
“They played with the purpose and skills that showed nothing but the determination to win and qualified for the Rugby World Cup for the first time in history,” Grange said.
One swoop
“In one fell swoop, with that last minute try in the final against Guyana, our team also qualified as well as for the World Cup Sevens 2018 in San Francisco, USA; 2018 Central American and Caribbean Sports Organization (CACSO) Games, the Commonwealth Games and the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens,” Grange said.
Jamaica tops pool
Jamaica topped their pool that included the Dominican Republic and Bermuda while Mexico and Guyana were also respective pool winners.
Mexico opened with a 61-0 drubbing of Curacao while Jamaica blanked the Dominican Republic 26-0.
Mexico continued to show their strength with another impressive win, 66-0 over the British Virgin Islands.
Meanwhile, Jamaica were also impressive with a 35-0 win over Bermuda.
The eventual champions had to battle hard in their third match, eking out a 19-17 win over the Cayman Islands before they met Mexico, who got to the semis by beating Cayman 33-0.
Jamaica was Mexico’s Waterloo
Jamaica proved to be Mexico’s Waterloo when they stopped the Central Americans 26-12 to book a place in the final with Guyana, who defeated Trinidad and Tobago 14-7.
“Magnificent was the performance by the ‘Crocs’,” Grange said,
“We must also shower kudos on the women’s team, the ‘Lady Crocs’, who also qualified for next year’s CASCO Games, after finishing third in their tournament.
“The Jamaica Rugby Football Union, led by Chairman Jerry Benzwick, is also deserving of our highest praise for the hard work put in to bring our Rugby players to their best performance to date. We wish for the Crocs and Lady Crocs many more successes as they play to make themselves, their families, their parent body and Jamaica even prouder.”
Mexico took the bronze medal over T&T.
