Inaugural Conyers Youth Cup Rugby Tournament a Great Success

Posted 01/03/2009 • Under Community Service

The first annual Conyers Youth Cup, generously sponsored and made possible by Conyers Dill & Pearman, took place at the National Sports Center last weekend, with Bermuda claiming the trophy over their Cayman counterparts. Spectators were treated to a fantastic feast of rugby as the young stars of the future showcased their outstanding talents.

Proceedings were opened on Saturday as the visiting Cayman sides faced off against the local teams in a round robin competition at U-10, U-12 and U-14. The U-10 competition was tight from start to finish, with no sides completely dominating any of the others. In the end though, it was the Bermuda Tigers that just edged out the Bermuda Bulls to win the title. The U-12 competition was equally tight with all teams producing some excellent rugby, and again it was the Tigers that won outright with the Bermuda Wasps their closest rivals. All three Bermuda league sides managed to secure wins over the Cayman national side. Cayman came out on top in the U-14 tournament to prevent the local clubs from taking a clean sweep.

The first international match on Sunday was the U-10's, and Bermuda gained an early advantage in the race to be crowned the inaugural Conyers Youth Cup champions. Each and every player made an appearance and all contributed greatly to Bermuda's 35-5 victory. Despite having only trained together for a few weeks, the squad came together superbly and gelled into a cohesive unit from the first whistle. They tackled, rucked and passed the ball magnificently and the Cayman side were unable to cope with the high intensity. The Bermuda management team were greatly impressed with their youngsters, who stuck to the ethic instilled in them - play sound, structured rugby, while being first class sportsmen and good hosts. Not only did they meet the expectations, but far exceeded them and received many compliments from both the visitors and spectators alike.

The U-12 match was up next and the Bermuda side was rampant against an unfortunate Cayman team. They were extremely impressive from start to finish, and the Cayman side was unable to cope with them. Bermuda dominated in most facets of the game, but were particularly impressive in their rucking and support play, which was at times textbook rugby and provided for fantastic entertainment value for the many supporters and spectators that attended the tournament. The Cayman team fought back incredibly hard and showed great spirit and sportsmanship, but were unable to contain the rampant Bermuda team, which eventually ended as victors with a final score of 75-0.

The relatively inexperienced Bermuda U14 side showed great heart and commitment taking on a well drilled and skilled Cayman team. Cayman won the match 26-0, but they were made to work extremely hard for the win, with the Bermuda side putting in some bone crunching tackles and displaying some aggressive running in the backs. The local side was unfortunate to have a superb solo effort try by Caldre Burgess called back when the full back was adjudged to have stepped just on the touch line prior to touching the ball down between the posts, and their task was made that much harder when they were reduced to 14 players in the final portion of the game following a yellow card for a dangerous tackle. The physically larger Cayman side were extremely well prepared for the match, but the commitment shown by the Bermuda players was outstanding.

On Saturday, the Bermuda U-19 side continued their preparations for the Caribbean Championships in July with a match against visiting Ashbury College. The Young Byes team defeated their opponents 13 - 10 in a very physical game and under very hot conditions.

Bermuda started the scoring with a well taken penalty kick by Shauntino Simons just inside the 22 after 5 minutes of forwards banging the ball up the field. Shortly after Simons converted another penalty to put Bermuda up 6 - 0. No team was willing to give an inch after that leading to half time.

Ashbury scored a try untouched up the middle of the field off a scrum but missed the conversion. Not to be outdone, Andre Landy got a quick ball out wide in his own 22 and ran the length of the field to score the try of the game under the posts, with what was a wonderful run. Simons made the conversion to edge them ahead 13-5. Ashbury quickly responded with a defensive lapse by Bermuda, allowing Ashbury to score out wide. Again, the conversion was missed. Bermuda defended well for the remainder of the second half by playing in the Ashbury half, managing to hold on to their 13-10 advantage. This was largely aided by a well taken line out ball by Colin Campbell and strong runs by captain Lubin Sousa.