It has been a long year since the famous victory over Mexico in Barbados last July 22 to 3 when Cayman won its first Regional championship and a place to the Junior World Trophy among the top 24 U20 teams in the World.

 

Training resumed as soon and the celebrations ended at the fantastic DART international school facility. Rugby was found a slot in the full schedule and preparations for Kenya began. The long term goal however was just one match, the Championship game that would take place on July 11^th 2009 at the South Sound Rugby Pitch for the North American West Indies Rugby Association Regional championship.

 

Members of the CRFU and sponsors alike dug deep into their pockets to help the squad members afford discounted memberships at Kings Gym and regular sessions began on and off the pitch. Players, parents the Cayman Government and sponsors all helped finance the forthcoming campaign with expectation in their eyes. Seasoned players and veterans alike offered advice and support to the squad during training sessions and the coaches gave up no less than four evenings a week to hone the players fitness, skill and understanding of the game.

 

The squad formed the Heineken Surge team in the 2009 Alex Alexander Memorial championship and played eight hard bruising matches against their senior counterparts, learning all the time and setting individual goals and objectives for each match, many that were not related to simply winning but playing with a  certain style, a method and a means to an end.

 

The squad travelled to Fort Lauderdale in February and played three of the top men’s super League teams in the USA. Each game was a daunting task, with our young players facing a wall of muscle, power and skill un-precedented within the boundaries of Cayman. Again the players rose to the occasion and while they suffered two heavy defeats physically and literally they bounced back on the Sunday to win their last match. As it turns out it was a good preparation for what was to come in Kenya with the exception that if anything the sides in Kenya were bigger, stronger and better than those met in Lauderdale.

 

240 of the world’s top five hundred players showed why they had been selected into national, professional & regional academies worldwide and why they would soon represent their countries in the full international team, a feat many have achieved since April and the Junior World Trophy.

 

The squad worked very hard in the UK for the six days they were there in preparation for Kenya but that work was overshadowed with the training, video analysis, chalk board, tactical meetings and team building sessions that were to be undertaken in Kenya.

 

The Junior world Trophy consisted of twenty one days in Kenya, a total of half a day was spent at leisure the other twenty and a half days were spent getting up at 7am and eating as a team, meeting for an hour, training for 2 hours, eating as a team, video analysis, tactical meeting, training for an hour, eating as a team, video analysis and then bed around 9:30pm when the management would evaluate performance from the day and plan the next. There were no complaints from anyone, we were all focused on the end goal.

 

The matches were incredibly difficult but at no point did any of the twenty six players complain, give up or become despondent, everyone accepted that we were in a very tough spot and the only way out was to work together as a team and ensure that we left with all that we could learn and carry forward with us.

 

On return to Cayman training took on a new intensity and yet more sessions each week. The team played its last three matches in the AA Cup before taking on Emerging Cayman in a three series competition in which the U19 won two matches to one, The problems encountered over the past year, the areas of weakness for the team had been identified, worked upon and overcome and after a long sixteen months the team was finally peaking at just the right time.

 

The 2009 championships commenced and Mexico, Trinidad and Jamaica showed just how much they had improved since 2008, the gauntlet was thrown down and the Cayman players knew that they would have to be at their best to repeat as Caribbean and Regional champions.

 

It very nearly all went wrong after Cayman had shown just how skilled they were in the first half against Jamaica to then lose focus and nearly the match. Undoubtedly the year before Cayman would have lost the game but instead of in-fighting and accusation the team simply fell back on the past years experiences and as one replied to the Jamaican onslaught to ensure that they won the game. As Mexico beat a game Trinidad with a come- back of their own this meant that Cayman’s win gave them their second Caribbean championship which was nice but had not been the focus for the past sixteen months.

 

On Friday night at 7:30pm the team got together under the lights at the DART international school and had their final session prior to the final of the tournament. It was a great session, everything went well, everyone was confident, everyone knew their part in the game plan and everyone was 100% confident. Everything over the past sixteen months had come together at the perfect moment.

 

The final itself went as planned, the players fulfilled their parts and the plan came together as a whole, it was a famous day for the Cayman Islands.

 

The team will now look to the next round which is expected to be against USA and Canada the two super powers of our region and again the going will be very tough but without doubt not as tough as Kenya as the lessons have been learned and the realities accepted. Now we can really start to move forward with these players development into top class international athletes.

 

Twenty three of the twenty six man squad are off to Universities in Canada, USA and Europe, all will continue their rugby at the schools of their choice and during holidays or for international competition we will bring them all back together.

 

In Cayman we continue to develop our players at all ages and levels. Not all will make elite level and that is as it should be as Rugby is mainly a game to be played and enjoyed for what it is, a social amateur sport with excellent community and moral standards. Cayman will however soon have its share of professional rugby players earning education scholarships and full time employment contracts with clubs worldwide. Josh and Joel Clark are off to Canada to represent the West Indies at sevens in a couple of weeks, McGrath has been accepted to Galway University where his rugby career will take on whole new meaning, Wilson will almost certainly make the West Indies sevens team this year and the list goes on and on. It has been an interesting nine years for me, not always smooth sailing by any stretch but then trying to live up to a vision that few if any share is difficult. We are not there yet but with this great win we have definitely come a lot closer.

The 2^nd round of Cup matches of the NAWIRA U19’s Caribbean Championships at the South Sound Rugby Pitch on 8 July certainly did not disappoint for excitement and fast paced, hard hitting action.

 

With four teams vying for regional honors and 3 teams looking to be crowned “Best in the Caribbean”, the Cayman Islands were favorites to retain both crowns having won this same tournament in Barbados in 2008 however with Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica all looking to take this years honors there were no certainties that Cayman could repeat their 2008 victories.

 

In the first game of the day, Trinidad took on Mexico with an opportunity to knock out the only North American team and ensure an all Caribbean final. Indeed Trinidad came very close to managing just that on the day but it wasn’t to be. Although Trinidad managed to go into half time with a 3 point lead (8-5) a stunning late 2^nd half charge by the Mexican’s meant that Trinidad’s hopes of being the best team in the region much like their Men’s senior and Women’s teams were over.

 

Early in the first half Trinidad opened the scoring with a well executed drive up the park by their powerful forwards to then distribute the ball out to the backs who, with some good straight running to draw their opposite numbers put full back  John Taylor through for the score.

 

The 3pm heat seemed to affect players from the get go especially the Mexicans front row forwards who were understandably very slow around the park having to carry their extra bulk around the field under the hot Cayman sun.

 

The game was marred by large numbers of unforced errors and needless penalties being given for hands in the ruck & offsides by Trinidad and Mexico but with infringements going both ways each team had equal opportunity to put points on the board with the boot but with only 1 successful attempt by Trinidad and 3 missed attempts by Mexico the score was still in favor of Trinidad 8-5 at half time after Mexican hooker Alejandro Pradillo scored in the corner after a decent phase of Mexican forward pressure.

 

The 2^nd half was  much more entertaining in terms of attacking Rugby by both sides but once again needless penalties resulted in Trinidad getting 2 more penalties with Mexico missing a couple more taking the score 14-5 with Trinidad looking like they were well on their way to a well earned victory.

 

However, the thought of defeat clearly scared the Mexicans into action. Mexico reacted by unleashing their back row forwards to take the Mexican defense by force. Ferocious hits were made by both teams but the Mexican pressure paid off with an an unconverted try for Mexican outside centre Christian Henning to take the score to 14-10 to the Trini’s.

 

With only minutes on the clock and Mexico needing little less than a Miracle to take the win it was thanks to Bryan Fada who took Mexico into the lead with a converted try and then as if to add insult to injury Mexico scored again off the restart in the corner for another unconverted try from inside center Daniel Bolanos to take Mexico to 22-14 at the final whistle. The result was heartbreaking for the Trinidadians who played some intelligent rugby with both their forwards and backs but the never say die attitude of the Mexican back row gave the Mexican back line just enough breathing room to sneak a win.

 

In the day’s big billing and with the South Sound Rugby pitch filling to capacity Cayman took on arch rivals Jamaica in the last Cup semifinal to see who would take on Mexico in the Finals.

 

With Trinidad now out of the running, the winner of the Jamaica vs. Cayman game would be crowned best in the Caribbean so both teams knew that there was more at stake than just making the final against Mexico to have a chance at regional honors.

 

From the opening whistle Cayman looked cool, calm and yet wonderfully aggressive camped out in the Jamaica 22 and with Cayman’s large pack surging and offloading the ball well in the tackle forward looked close to scoring twice. It took Cayman’s scrum half and West Indies 7’s prospect Michael Wilson to put the first points on the board with a well executed try off the back of the scrum cutting through the Jamaican back line, Cayman centre Robbie Cribb could not get the extra 2 points on the board but regardless it was clear that Cayman were brimming with desire to beat Jamaica after 4 years of tearfully unsuccessful attempts at the same feat.

 

It wasn’t long before Cayman were back within scoring distance thanks to typically long kicks downfield by Cayman fly half Joel Clark and with Cayman having clearly done much work on their set piece play centre Matthew Hale broke the Jamaican line to set up Joel Clark to score 5 yards wide of the posts and give Robbie Cribb the easier conversion and give Cayman a 12-0 lead.

 

With Jamaica bleeding points to Cayman early on it was left to the victorious Mexicans to chant on the visitors with renditions of Bob Marley’s “One Love” but it did little to raise the spirits of the Jamaicans whose heads were hung low from the early onslaught of attacking Cayman Rugby.

 

Jamaica’s first opportunity for points were from a penalty but the attempt was wide with Jamaica still struggling to find talent with the boot (a problem Cayman seem to have solved with Robbie “golden boots” Cribb who again secured a penalty shortly after to take the score to 15-0).

 

The 1^st half penalty count was largely in favor of Cayman but there were glimpses of the dangerous Jamaica of old when Cayman gave loose ball. Thankfully Cayman had sewn up their defensive difficulties of old and even when Jamaica had the opportunity to run they were stifled by the hard hitting Caymanians.

Cayman came close to scoring more points through their hard working forwards but the half time score of 22-0 was rung in when quick thinking Joel Clarke put a cross field kick for his backline to chase and thanks to pressure from the Cayman wing Jamaica spilled the ball backwards for Matthew Hale to collect and run 30 yards unscathed to score under the posts and for Robbie Cribb to again convert.

 

Cayman were flying high at half time and the crowd expected much the same for the 2^nd half. But Jamaica, having been buoyed by their Mexican counterparts came into the 2^nd half a changed team. With the play book they had tried to use against the Bahamas firmly thrown out of the window and the men in dark green, black and gold intent on playing the free flowing rugby they have always played and looking to snipe the ball where-ever possible the 2^nd half became a real nail biter for the Cayman crowd!

 

Cayman started the early stages of the 2^nd half in their own 22 as opposed to Jamaica’s half in no small part due to a string of unforced errors and penalties which allowed a fiery Jamaican team to come within scoring distance. Cayman were also showing the early signs of fatigue which allowed Jamaica to put their first points on the board with an unconverted try out wide for fullback Andrew Simpson which worked its way through the speedy Jamaican back line to bring the score to 22-5.

 

It took Jamaica only a matter of minutes to score again having used the ample loose ball provided by a now lethargic Cayman pack to once more put the ball through the hand in the opposite direction to score in the corner through Fabian Turner and with Ryan Grant finally finding some luck with the boot to make the conversion Jamaica had clawed back some of Cayman’s points to make the score 22-12.

 

Albeit for the best efforts of Cayman captain Danny McGrath Cayman looked unphased by the increasing Jamaican comeback and more loose ball was given to Jamaica to provide ample opportunity to score. And score Jamaica did through Andre O’Connor to take his country within 5 points of Cayman’s tally.

 

With Cayman truly on the brink of another heartbreaking loss and the Cayman crowd growing ever more vocal to urge their young team on it was down to players like Edward Westin to lead the way to put more points on the board for Cayman. With Westin’s big hits and turnover ball Cayman were finally awarded a kickable penalty after a string of Cayman offenses had allowed Jamaica into the game. With a sure footed Robbie Cribb another 3 points were put on the board to give Cayman some much needed breathing room to take the score to 25-17 but the reprieve was short-lived when yet more Cayman offenses gave Jamaica the chance to mount another attack and with their usual deft handling the Jamaicans moved the ball around for Rodney Denvil to add another unconverted try and bring Jamaica within 3 points of Cayman 25-22. the Caymanian crowd were at fever pitch when Cayman finally managed to earn another penalty for hero Robbie Cribb to add another three points and take Cayman to 28-22. The final whistle was blown to the massive cheers of the Cayman crowd with the knowledge that Cayman, a small nation of 50,000 people were once more the best under 19’s rugby team in the Caribbean. Jamaica came so very close to yet another stunning win but it was finally Cayman’s time to end years of hurt against their Jamaican neighbors and march onto the NAWIRA finals to take on mighty Mexico.

 

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