USA U19 Team Makes it Four in a Row, On to RAN Final
USA U19 Team Makes it Four in a Row, On to RAN Final
The USA U19s are into the final of the RAN U19 Championships after two solid wins on Thursday.
While the USA team did give up their first points of the tournament, they still have not surrendered a try.
They beat Mexico 33-9 and a quite tough Cayman Islands side 33-3 to finish Pool Play 4-0 and 156 points for and 12 against.
Meanwhile the battle for 2nd in the pool play, and a place in the final, came down to the final match of the day. Cayman Islands came out of Day One 2-0 and after their loss to the USA needed to beat Mexico to finish 3-1. Meanwhile, Jamaica came out of Day One 1-1 but defeated Bermuda to move to 2-1, just like Cayman Islands.
However, Cayman struggled to get going offensively and Mexico defended brilliantly to win 17-0 and drop Cayman to 2-2.
So Jamaica now had to beat Trinidad & Tobago. This turned out to be a a very tight game and Jamaica could never fully shake T&T. Leading 20-16 Jamaica found themselves backed up to their tryline and T&T got a penalty and drove to the line. The final surge, however, ended with a knock-on just at the tryline. Jamaica survived and breathed a huge sigh of relief and finished up 3-1 into the final.
For the USA team, Head Coach Todd Thornley is thinking about more than just wins.
“We’re proud to be 4-0, winning games and showing flashes of brilliance along the way” said Thornley. “The team has stepped up in key moments and played with heart. That said, we know we’re not where we want to be yet. There’s still work to do and we’re getting focused on getting better every game.”
USA U19s play Jamaica U19s Saturday, June 12 at 4PM ET in the RAN U19 final. The game willbe live on RugbyPass.tv.
