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Mexico completed a road win over the Cayman Islands on Friday. Played in George Town, Las Serpientes were 20-10 winners. The match was the first of two between the sides this year; they will meet again on December 07.
Promoted as the Big Game 10, the match followed the Cayman Islands’ recent win over Bermuda. The match took place at Truman Bodden Stadium. Home supporters had reason to believe in a victory; indeed, the Caymans won 35-14 in December, 2022.
Pascal Nadaud’s team won by ten points but were never under threat of losing the contest. Las Sepientes built a 20-03 lead.
The opening score saw prop Esteban Viñas intercepting a pass and running 25 meters. After being brought to ground quick recycling saw scrum-half Andrés Rodríguez kick over the defensive line for winger Enrique Carmona to chase, regather and score.
The try was converted by fly half Santiago Guadarrama. He added a penalty 15 minutes later for a 10-0 lead. It remained as such until the half-time break.
Mexico won the ball from their own second-half kick-off. Phases followed and Las Serpientes were awarded an attacking penalty. Nadaud took the opportunity to go for goal and Mexico extended their lead to 13 points.
The Cayman Islands responded with a penalty of their own. Mexico then put the result beyond doubt. Impact from the replacements, especially forwards, saw Mexico powering through the Caymans’ defense. A support run from Sebastián Díaz saw the scrum-half over under the posts.
The Caymans eventually found their way into the try zone too. Their try came from an attacking lineout. Thy went for a lineout to maul move which saw a rampaging pack of forwards force their way over. With the conversion on target, the Caymans salvaged a 10 point defeat.
The match was the first for both Mexico and the Cayman Islands in the 2024 Rugby Americas North (RAN) Men’s XV’s tournament. Prior matches in the competition saw Guyana defeating Trinidad & Tobago 24-23, Jamaica beating Bermuda 19-14 and Barbados unleashing full-force in pulverizing St. Vincent & the Grenadines 80-0.
| LINEUPS |
Cayman Islands
TBA
Mexico
1 Borja Mandaluñiz, 2 Mijael Loreda, 3 Esteban Viñas, 4 Thomas Vesey, 5 Bernardo Hernández, 6 Emmanuel Barajas, 7 Nicolás Falcón, 8 Sebastián Díaz, 9 Andrés Rodríguez, 10 Santiago Guadarrama, 11 Juan Pablo Martínez, 12 Ricardo Ancyra, 13 Pascal Nadaud (capt.), 14 Enrique Carmona, 15 Fharid Samano
Replacements: 16 Emiliano Martínez, 17 Ángel Pérez, 18 Eduardo Ochoa, 19 Abubacar Conde, 20 Carlos Viñas, 21 Maximiliano Martínez, 22 Diego Gutiérrez, 23 Emilio Sánchez
| MATCH OFFICIALS |
Referee: Tim Lew (USA)
| MATCH VIDEO |
