The USA Rugby South U19 Red team defeated Bermuda 17-0 Friday in Orlando to secure 7th in the North American Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) U19 Championships.

Photos by Daniel Pretorius. Click images to enlarge.

After losing two tough games, the South's 2nd squad was able to pull out a victory to avoid finishing last. The Panthers did this by forcing Bermuda to backpedal with a quick-ball, aggressive offensive approach.

Repeated pressure in the first half saw the South get over the tryline twice, however with a knock-on and a held-up, they failed to score. Still the Panthers stayed in the Bermuda 22 and after a scrum spun the ball wide, where the backs looked to have an overload. Bermuda scrambled well, but the South backs cut back to their forwards, and Phoenix Alpharetta star Chris Bagby picked up quickly and dove over. Bermuda was down a man due to a yellow card at the time, and then got another for an after-the-play incident that also gave the South a penalty at midfield after the missed conversion.

the Panthers tapped and ran right up the gut to get Bermuda backpedaling once more. Quick recycle and aggressive running put Missouri's Grant Broeder through. He was just caught, but Tennesseean Steven Major took it the final meter.

So that made it 10-0, and while Bermuda kept trying to create something, the South was just too aggressive in contact.

In the second half, a bit of a funny moment when the South maul jarred the goalpost, forcing the crossbar to fall down. No one was hurt, but there was a delay as the posts were fixed. Moments later, the South spun the ball nicely through the backs and John Roberts, a 16-year-old from Mill Creek in Georgia, went over.

With the conversion, that made it 17-0, and the South Bs held on from there.

Defensively the South Red team looked cohesive, and offensively their forwards seemed to be working together. But the key aspect of their play that won the game was their aggression. The hit the line with power, and worked hard to get the ball out of the breakdown quickly to use their pace. That's what created their three tries.

USA Rugby South Red roster