The RAN U19 Championships comes back to the USA after the USA U19s defeated Jamaica 48-8 in Saturday’s final in Querétaro, Mexico.

Jamaica became the first team to score a try against the U19 Eagles, mauling over late in the first half.

For the USA, Jayden Williams was monstrous in the forwards and, along with Lyndon Bailey, helped the Americans win the lineout battle. Up front Phil Bottomley and Tyler Thrower set the tone.

Early-on in the game the USA U19s got over the line, but an apparent try from captain Papa Matelau was called back for a penalty against the Americans.

The USA kept up the pressure, however, and finally after a lineout steal they worked through some phases before a nice, wide pass found Siale Ofa, who cut between two tacklers and pumped his legs to get over.

Jamaica stormed back and were over the line only to be held up. That was a bit of a wakeup call for the Americans. They managed to get out of trouble and eventually earned a penalty that set up a lineout-and-maul situation. Jamaica had done quite well to ensure these mauls fell over in the first meeting of the two squads, but when the Crocs finally were able to do it this time hooker Mehdi Merry popped off the back and scored.

A long run from center Jameson Beatty in which he blazed down the sideline and then cut back to beat everyone, was a bit of a highlight try.

Then a long sequence of phases kept the Crocs scrambling and flanker Raylon Murry was free on the sideline and scored in the corner.

That made it 22-0 before Jamaica punished a USA penalty to maul over.

But the second half continued to be mostly the USA’s game despite the stop-start nature of the contest. 

Fullback Marco Lapierre was heavily involved and did well to help negate Jamaica’s kicking game. He and flyhalf Declan Cadden were effective playmakers. Beatty got a second in the second half to finish an excellent game.

But perhaps the unsung players of the entire competition were the halfbacks Braydon Evors (Belmont Shore and now Cardiff Met) and Mark French (St. Ignatius, Cleveland). Both players have the ability to run with the ball, but they really embraced their role as distributors to a very talented backline. Evors did finally get a try on a classic dummy-and-dive in the second half, and French was deceptively physical when he saw the need to clear out in a ruck.