Bermuda thrash Princeton in warm-up - Royal Gazette

Sport Staff

Published Feb 18, 2019 at 9:29 pm (Updated Feb 18, 2019 at 9:31 pm)

Too strong: referee Richard Foulds looks on during a scrum between Bermuda and the Princeton Flying Tigers at the National Stadium at the week. Bermuda won 43-0

Bermuda earned a comfortable 43-0 victory over the Princeton Flying Tigers at the National Stadium at the weekend.

Coach Jamie Barnwell’s side made a slow start and were plagued with handling errors and lack of execution during a dour first quarter, which was hardly helped by the wet and windy conditions.

However, Bermuda’s forwards began to take the ascendancy and built some momentum after a couple of stellar driving mauls.

A promising attack by Jamie Baum resulted in a penalty that Bermuda knocked into the corner and from the ensuing line-out the home side drove forward and Conor McGlynn touched down for the opening score. Paul Kelly missed the conversion out wide.

Bermuda settled down and enjoyed some eye-catching phases before going to the tried and tested formula of the driving maul from an attacking line-out.

McGlynn benefited from the tight drive and powered through for his second try of the game. Kelly converted to give Bermuda a 12-0 lead.

With their tails up, Bermuda had a fine sweeping attack down the wing, with Dustin Archibald diving in after some inventive interplay between Mikel Dill and Kia Edwards opened up the Princeton defence. Kelly kicked a difficult conversion to make it 19-0.

A fine break by Alex Brown offloaded to Mikel Dill who scampered in to score a converted try as Bermuda continued to dominate their New Jersey counterparts.

At the start of the second half a deft kick by Kelly was picked up by Dan Cole before he offloaded back to Kelly for an unconverted try.

Bermuda were firmly in the ascendancy and after a good counterattack by Stephen Smit, the ball was quickly recycled to McGlynn to score his third try.

The home side continued to show their superior class with an 80-yard attack from a defensive scrum. A lovely move between the effervescent Smit and Brown then created a chance for Baum who scored a converted try.

Barnwell was philosophical about the lopsided win. “The win will be confidence building and breaks the losing streak,” he said. “It’s the first win for some national team players in more than a year.”

Bermuda take on Jamaica at the National Stadium on March 9.

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