Words: Ian Golden, Pic: Geraint Nicholas
Wales put on an excellent second half performance to overcome an excellent Jamaican side who at point looked like they were going to dominate the game.
The match didn’t start well for the Welsh who Wales lost Bailey Antrobus through injury in the opening minutes.
Then Jamaica took the lead with their first real attack. Ben Jones-Bishop pushing his way through to ground. Keiran Rush missed the conversion.
They soon doubled that from their next attack. Following an error in the Welsh defence, Alex Young leapt onto a Rush grubber to score. Rush again couldn’t convert.
Not long after that, Mo Agoro was outpaced in his attempt to score Jamaica’s third try, but Rush soon extended his side’s lead with a penalty.
Wales finally got an attack together just after the 30-minute mark, where player of the match Gil Dudson was closest to the line and they eventually scored five minutes later. It was a perfect Elliot Kear grubber and men’s side record try scorer Rhys Williams pounced for his 23rd try in his 36th game. Matty Fozard couldn’t land the kick.
Wales looked for an leveller just before the interval with Sam Bowring getting five metres to the line on the final tackle of the set just before the hooter went for a 10-4 interval lead to the visitors.
The home side upped their game at the start of the second half and were soon level. Huw Worthington forced his way through from close range for a try on his international debut. Fozard converted.
Then on 62 minutes, Wales took the lead for the first time in the evening. Debutant Max Clarke on the end of a nice set of passes to score in corner.
From kick-off, Wales scored again. With conditions taking their toll, Will Evans pounced on a Jamaica error and set up Gil Dudson for one of the easiest tries he’ll ever score. Fozard couldn’t land either conversion but Wales were now 18-10 up.
Wales’ next try came from a penalty. Running it in from 30 metres, Billy Walkley opened up a gap for Fozard to score, but he was still unable to convert.
Jamaica weren’t finished yet. Josh Hudson-Lett ran through a gap to score under the sticks and Darius Carter converted. That made the score 22-16, but Wales held on for the win.
