Bermuda narrowly missed out on a place in the final of the Rugby Americas North Under-19 tournament.

After beating Trinidad and Tobago 13-0 earlier in the day, Bermuda came back out for their second match against hosts Jamaica knowing a spot in the final was within their reach.

However, it was Jamaica who got through on points scored in the tournament after the teams played out an 8-8 draw in a hard-fought match.

Jamaica took an early 3-0 lead with a penalty before Kwame Naylor struck back with a penalty of his own to draw Bermuda level going into the interval.

Four minutes into the second half Jamaica suffered a setback when they had a player sent off for a bad challenge as they were reduced to 14 players for the rest of the match.

Eight minutes into the second half, Bermuda took the lead when Noah Botelho scored a try from a short pass to put his side 8-3 ahead.

Bermuda, looking to extend their lead, were confidently running at their opponents as they sought another try with Naylor having a good run forward blocked as he looked a big threat with his pace.

Twelve minutes into the second half Jamaica fought back to level the score following a scrum when Lebron Garvey used his pace to run through the Bermuda defence for a try and a valuable five points to tie it up at 8-8.

Despite frantic efforts from both teams to seal a late win, Jamaica held on for the draw which took them through on points scored.

“We knew a draw wouldn’t do in our final match against Jamaica and so we had to win to reach the final,” said Chris Naylor, Bermuda Under-19s head coach.

“The boys are absolutely gutted but as coaches we are satisfied because the boys played well against Jamaica.

“If they had played badly and drawn there would have been some frustration from them but they did really well in what was a tight game between two really good teams.

“We had chances to win the game and so overall it’s been a fantastic effort from the lads and we are super proud of them.

“Of the starting 15 players 11 of them will be back next year and that is a really exciting prospect with the potential of future development of this team moving forward.”