The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

IT was a new venue but the same result for the Bahamas Rugby Football Union’s national team as they remained winless at 0-3 in the Rugby Americas North Championship.

Playing on the road in Bermuda, the Bahamas lost 30-13 to the host country last weekend at the National Sports Centre in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Ryan Knowles and Patrick Arthur scored tries for Team Bahamas, who overcame a slow start but eventually fell behind by as much as 22 in the second half.

Nigel Burgess manoeuvred by the defence from Team Bahamas for the first score of the game to give Bermuda a 7-0 lead at the 17-minute mark.

The Bahamas would answer with its only score of the half, a penalty goal from Brian Baker to make the score 7-3. Tommie Edwards would convert a penalty and Antonio Perinchief would add another try in the 38th minute for Bermuda as they took a 15-3 lead at the half.

The Bahamas struck first in the second half when Knowles crossed the try line at the 55th minute to trim the deficit, 15-8.

Bermuda’s Tom Healy delivered a poor kick which allowed the Bahamas to gain possession on the Bermuda 22 and Knowles was eventually able to score at the corner.

Despite the momentum from the score and again within seven, Bermuda would end the match on a 15-5 run.

An Edwards penalty, a try from Bennet Gibson (77’) and the second try of the match from Burgess (78’) gave the home team their largest lead of the game, 30-8 with just over two minutes left to play.

The two sides have battled back and forth in North Zone play in recent years, and the Bahamas held the latest advantage headed into this weekend.

Bermuda won 16-8 in 2012 in the then NACRA Championships, and the Bahamas bounced back to defeat Bermuda 21-15 in 2015 when Charles Smith scored the go ahead try with just under two minutes left to play. It was the first time the Bahamas defeated Bermuda in the NACRA Championships in over a decade.

“If you go back a few years winning was a real habit for us, the last couple of seasons have been pretty barren, so just to get a win under our belts was pretty important,” Peter Dunkerley, the Bermuda captain, told Josh Ball of the Royal Gazette. “The new players did a pretty good job. Yes, they made mistakes, some things didn’t go so well, but at times we put together some good phases, some good rugby. But just having that pace out wide transforms the game.”

The Bahamas opened the RAN Championships and 2019 Rugby World Cup Qualifier with a 39-9 loss to Mexico at the Winton Rugby Centre on May 7.

The scoring woes continued May 21 as the Bahamas managed a single try in a 20-8 loss to the Cayman Islands in George Town, Cayman. It was the second match in the series for Bermuda after they opened with a 75-10 loss at the hands of Mexico. They will now go on to face the Cayman Islands in their final match of the RAN Championship series.