Dartmouth leave Cayman happy

(CRFU): Dartmouth University wrapped up its spring tour to the Cayman Islands on Saturday 24 March by once again beating the Cayman National XV this time by 10 points 28-18. The second straight loss to the younger Americans leaves questions hanging over the Cayman teams’ preparations ahead of their 2015 World Cup qualification process which starts on 7 April when Cayman take on Jamaica in Kingston.  Dartmouth proved to be the better team in the final 20 minutes, making another late comeback to secure the win and a perfect record for the 1st XV on the trip. Photo Caroline Deegan

Cayman marched into an early lead in the game thanks to an early showing from the Cayman forwards which utilized driving mauls off the lineout and powerful scrummaging but it was outside of the set piece that Cayman showed their weaknesses as Cayman could not capitalize on a 15-8 half time lead.

Following an early penalty to take the score to 18-8 in the 2nd half the Dartmouth defense began to strike back, completely stifling the Cayman attack so that the local boys would not add any more points to their tally for the rest of the game. Using their stingy defense as a catalyst, The Big Green began their comeback, with flyhalf Will Lehmann getting the try after a great run from center Clark Judge. Hughes would make the conversion to tighten things up at 18-15.

Moments later, he would add another penalty to make it a tie game at 18 all. The game winning score came a mere 5 minutes later, with wing Kevin Clark going in for what would be the deciding score. Hughes would add another conversions to make the score 25-18 and then mere minutes later he would make his third penalty of the day to extend the lead to 28-18. The penalty would bring his point total to 13 for the day, and by making it a two-score game, ensure the victory.

Although the Cayman National side could get no joy from the Dartmouth tour the Cayman Rugby club was buoyed by 3 consecutive victories over the Dartmouth 2nd XV with the biggest win going to the stellar Cayman U21 side 41-0. The second of the Cayman Club select games against the Dartmouth 2’s was a closer affair for the Dartmouth boys who lost by 7 points 34-27 with a Kyron Lyons interception try being the difference between both sides.

The 2015 World Cup Qualification process kicked off in Mexico on 24 March and Mexico hammered the usually dangerous Jamaican’s 68-14. The loss bodes well for Cayman’s chances in Jamaica but the Mexicans will be hard to handle on home turf on 21 April having been buoyed by the spectacle of a World Cup opening match featuring 2015 Rugby Ambassador and 2003 World Cup winner Lawrence Dallaglio and 2011 Rugby World Cup final referee Craig Joubert.

In Dallaglio’s own words “Believe me, Mexico is a very patriotic nation. If you could bottle what they have over there and give it to a few other countries, they would be a lot better for it!”