USA Rugby South U19 men opened up the Rugby Americas North U19 championships with a 41-0 defeat of Bermuda in Miramar, Fla.

Bermuda struggled to play as a unit and had a few promising attacking moments, but little fumbled passes, forward passes, and some hard-hitting USA South tacklers prevented them from scoring. Meanwhile, the Panthers scored in the opening moments, working the phases inside the Bermuda 22 before outside center Calvin Gentry cut back to go over for the first try.

A break from inside the Panthers 22 from wing Jean Roberts, breaking away from various tacklers, set up another attack for fullback Grant Broeder to speed in for the second South try. That made it 10-0 after nine minutes. Bermuda did a better job keeping some possession for the next 15 minutes or so, but had trouble getting out of their own zone. A fairly wayward kick by Bermuda designed to clear pressure did the opposite, as the South countered and eventually wing Malcolm Easley powered over to make it 15-0.

That was how the half ended, but quickly the South took control in the second half. From a lineout they spun the ball for Easley to get his second. And then moments later, Bermuda got a red card for eye-gouging, and they were in trouble for the rest of the game. A fumbled pass was a gift-wrapped try for center Andrew Rappe, who went 40 meters to make it 25-0. Sean O'Driscoll slotted the first conversion of the day to make it 27-0.

The South subs started to make a nice impact, and center sub Cordell Ramsey made some big tackles and important runs. One of those set him up to power over in the corner for the USA South's sixth try and a 34-0 lead.

Finally, Rappe finished the scoring off with a nifty run, and O'Driscoll hit the conversion to end the game.

(See full South lineup here)

Meanwhile, Mexico beat Turks & Caicos 79-0 in the other game of the day.

"The forwards set up a really clean platform," said Rappe after the game.

"We wanted to stick to the fundamentals and get off to the good start," said Head Coach Mark Williams. "A lot of the guys try to play hero rugby. We had some of that, but when we did what we were supposed to do, we scored."

Bermuda faces Trinidad & Tobago on Monday, while Turks & Caicos faces Cayman Islands. then the third round of pool play will be Wednesday, July 13, with Mexico v Cayman Islands and USA South v. Trinidad & Tobago.