Bermuda 3

Cayman Islands 24

Pressure can do funny things to people, some thrive in that environment, others wilt.

In Bermuda’s case the pressure associated with Saturday’s must-win game does not seem to have been the problem against Cayman Islands, rather their desperate desire to make-up for previous losses against Mexico and USA South overwhelmed them.

The poor kicking, poor decision-making, poor passing, and silly mistakes that blighted their performance were symptoms of that need to “right a few wrongs” as Peter Dunkerley, the Bermuda captain, put it afterwards.

“We were desperate to come home and frankly, on a much bigger stage, put things right,” Dunkerley said.

“If we’d won well, then anything that had gone before wouldn’t have really mattered in our minds.”

Making amends is difficult to do from the back foot, a place Bermuda found themselves when they gifted Cayman the opening score with only five minutes gone.

A high ball in to the Bermuda 22 should have presented few problems.

Unfortunately Dan Cole, the full back, left it to Rich Cumbers, the wing, who thought Tom Healy, the scrum half, was going to deal with it.

As it turned out, none of them did much except watch as the ball bounced straight in to the arms of Wright, who scampered in under the posts from five yards out. Marco Du Plessis slotted over the conversion, and Cayman had a lead they never relinquished.

They should have lost it, several times, but Bermuda butchered a host of chances in a first half they dominated in terms of territory and possession.

A Tommy Edwards penalty aside, any momentum that Bermuda created was lost in a succession of knock-ons, rushed passes going to ground, and a less than convincing display from Phil Hall, the fly half, whose failure to find touch when clearing his lines was the least of his transgressions.

The backs were not solely to blame, however; to a man Bermuda struggled going forward.

Cayman, for their part, were not that much better in a first half characterised by sloppy rugby, and disjointed attack.

Richard Lewis, the captain and No 8, did his best to lead by example, but the loss of Chris Kennedy, the flanker, to a hamstring injury early on, left the Cayman forwards struggling to impose themselves on the game.

“Bermuda’s an extremely tough side to play against, and I don’t think it was us playing badly [in the first half], I think it was them forcing us to play badly,” Brad Cowdroy, the Cayman coach, said. “We lost a lot of impetus and organisation when Kennedy went off, but we had a chat at half time and came out a bit more focused.”

In contrast Bermuda continued to struggle, and even with a man advantage, when Dan Bond, the Cayman lock, was sin-binned for repeated infringing in the ruck shortly after the restart, they couldn’t score.

The home side’s performance was summed up after Bond returned to the pitch for an attacking lineout five yards from the Bermuda line. Yohannes Regnard, the lock, peeled off the back and strolled over the line unmolested.

“They [peels from the lineout] worked well in about 1972, but you don’t see them scored very often because teams usually defend them, and we didn’t,” Dunkerley said.

“Their other try, and frankly the rest of their points that they kicked, were just from stupid mistakes and poor defending by our back three.”

Desire to succeed turned to desperation for Bermuda as the game slipped from their grasp, and the final 12 points, all came from the boot of Morgan Hayward as Bermuda conceded a succession of penalties inside their own 22.

While Cayman now focus on their game against USA South on Saturday, Bermuda must pick themselves up for a relegation play-off against the winners of the North Zone Cup League. Mexico, who beat Bermuda 56-9 only a two months ago, look like being that team.

“The boys are a bit shell shocked, we felt we were in really good nick for the game, we also felt we were going to win,” Dunkerley said

“We’ll get back together, we’ll get back to training, and the boys will ultimately realise that we have a point to prove against Mexico.

“We know there isn’t that much difference between us, and we get a chance to right a wrong.”

Scorers: Bermuda: Penalty goal: Edwards (17min). Cayman Islands: Tries: Wright (5), Regnard (61). Conversion: Du Plessis (6). Penalty goals: Hayward 4 (73, 76, 80+1, 80+5).

Scoring sequence (Bermuda first): 0-5, 0-7, 3-7 (half-time), 3-12, 3-15, 3-18, 3-21, 3-24.

Bermuda: D Cole; R Cumbers, T Edwards, P Davis, N Zuill (rep: P Graham, 79); P Hall (rep: G Lamprecht, 79), T Healy; P Dobinson (rep: E Barnes, 79), M Williams (rep: D Richardson, 52), D Archibald (rep: J Cedenio, 65), D Rourke (rep: P Canfield, 73: sin-bin: 80+3), T Desilva (rep: A Richards, 41), B Gibson, T Greenslade, P Dunkerley.

Cayman Islands: C Palmer; K Wright (rep: C Parker, 73), J Murphy, A Keenan (rep: M Hayward, 53), J Clark; M Du Plessis, J Brown; J McAdam (rep: B McDonald, 65), J Scarff, P Fourie, D Bond (sin-bin: 49-59), Y Regnard (rep: M Soto 29-39), C Kennedy (rep: B Blair, 10: rep: M Soto, 71), E Westin (rep: P Westin, 60), R Lewis.

Referee: K Lozada (Canada).