Rugby: Bermuda Defeat Visiting Princeton Tigers - Bernews

Local rugby took a back seat as Bermuda matched up against the visiting Princeton Tigers, which saw the Bermuda National team claim a well-deserved 43 – 0 victory over a spirited Princeton side.

The Bermuda forwards began to get the upper hand with some stellar driving mauls. A promising attack by Jamie Baum resulted in a penalty which they knocked into the corner. Off the ensuing line-out, Bermuda drove forward and Conor McGlynn touched down for the opening score, but Paul Kelly missed the out wide conversion for Bermuda to hold the 5 – 0 lead.

Bermuda settled down and went through some good phases before going to the driving maul off an attacking line out, McGlynn benefitted from the tight drive and touched down for his second of the game, and Kelly was able to convert to give the hosts a 12 – 0 lead.

Bermuda had a fine sweeping attack down the wing which saw a grateful Dustin Archibald dive in after a nice interplay between Mikel Dill and Kia Edwards opened up a flagging Princeton defense, and Kelly made the conversion as Bermuda extended the lead to 19 – 0.

Bermuda continued to get the upper hand after a fine break by Alex Brown offloaded to Dill who scampered in to score a converted try, resulting in Bermuda going into the half with a commanding 26 – 0 lead.

Bermuda showed great skills at the start of the second-half with a deft kick through by Kelly which was neatly picked up by Dan Cole one-handed before offloading back to Kelly for the unconverted try for Bermuda to lead 31 – 0.

Bermuda continued to dominate and after a good counterattack, the ball was quickly recycled to McGlynn who scored his third try of the day taking the scoreline to 36 – 0.

Bermuda continued to show their superior class with an 80m attack off a defensive scrum. Smit made a lovely inside pass to Alex Brown who then popped to the ever supporting Baum, who galloped in from 50 yards out for a converted try to make it 43 – 0.

Bermuda National Team Coach Jamie Barnwell said, “The win will be confidence building and breaks the losing streak – it’s the first win for some national team players in over a year.”