International

Bermuda 0 Cayman Islands 14

Cayman Islands came, saw and conquered, leaving Bermuda with a first-ever win over their hosts during Saturday's international at the World Rugby Classic.

In weather more befitting the game in England, the two nations slogged it out on a pitch sodden by heavy rain.

Although the downpour stopped for much of the clash, the conditions made throwing the ball a lottery and so most of the points came from the boot. The Caymans were simply more efficient.

"We came out a little bit flat and were not on the boil and the little mistakes killed us again," said disappointed Bermuda coach Alvin Harvey, his latter comment a reference to last weekend's second string defeat to the Atlanta Renegades.

"When we were in scoring position and pushing forward we just didn't protect the ball as we should have done. The turnovers took some of the momentum from us and put us on the backfoot. When we were going forward we looked good, but we squandered the scoring opportunities."

Harvey said Mike Kane had unfortunately had an off-day with the boot and so it was doubly disappointing that Bermuda did not even get on the scoreboard, never mind win.

"It was very disappointing," he said. "Normally Kane is pretty good with the boot, pretty steady and can put them over from 50 yards out. Today, I guess he was just a little unnerved and we weren't able to get on the board."

While Harvey was somewhat downcast, Cayman captain Stephen Hannon was delighted.

"They were two very similar sides," he said. "We just stuck to playing as hard as we could. We turned a few balls over and you can't win without it - we knew that. It was hard work on our forwards and backs and it was a physical game.

"There was not a lot of flair and not a lot of good ball handling. It was just a hard played game and our players played fantastic."

Cayman set their stall out as early as the eighth minute, drawing a penalty on the right flank.

Tony Elliott was off target with the kick but three minutes later he made amends with another penalty five metres out.

That gave Cayman a 3-0 lead but Bermuda sought to peg them back in the 23rd minute with a penalty of their own. However, Kane missed and the home side slipped further behind six minutes later when Cayman slotted another penalty to go 6-0 up.

Bermuda tried to exert some pressure at the start of the second half and when they charged down a kick out of defence it seemed certain they would go over for the try but the defence stood firm.

Perhaps Bermuda's best opportunity came in the 58th minute when they were awarded yet another penalty. However, Kane missed and they remained scoreless.

Elliott added another three points to the board in the 63rd minute when his kick from just inside halfway sailed between the posts.

Two minutes later Bermuda did get over the try line when they profited from a Cayman mistake, but an eagle-eyed touch judge ruled Nathan Browne's foot had crossed the white line and play was called back.

Cayman's Alan Flanagan rubbed salt in the wound when he crossed for the only try of the day in the 79th minute. The conversion was missed but the result was never in doubt.

"That's the first time we have ever beaten Bermuda so the Cayman Islands will be more than happy that we have come here and won this one," said Hannon, a transplanted Australian who has just received Cayman status.

"We came out here with positive thoughts, definitely. We have played them before a good few times and we knew we were not far off. We have got a lot of new players in our side, good physical ones so we knew we had a good chance."

Coach Harvey, meanwhile, said despite the result there were some positives to be taken from Bermuda's play.

"We had a good performance from young James Bergl and another by Josh McGavern - it was a great effort," he said.

"We just needed to do the basics to beat them. I think the boys were trying just a little bit too hard to try get a score and we just made too many mistakes."