2021 Rugby League World Cup Qualifier: Jamaica vs the USA

The 2018 Americas Rugby League Championship was held on Saturday, November 17 at Hodges Stadium, on the University of North Florida campus in Jacksonville.

Jamaica beat the USA for the first time 16-10 and emerged with the 2018 Americas Championship. They also secured automatic qualification for the 2021 Rugby League World Cup in England, the 11th team to do so.

During the first half, Jamaica scored two tries by Joel Farrell and Jacob Agden with Jy-Mel Coleman adding a conversion and two penalty kicks to take a 16-0 lead.

Connor Donehue and Ryan Burroughs scored tries in the last four minutes before the break and Bureta Faraimo slotted a conversion to cut the lead to 16-10 at the break.

The second half was a defensive battle with Ryan Burroughs being held out of in-goal in the 79th minute. The Reggae Warriors’ goal line stand prevented the USA from potentially tying the match.

With the win, Jamaica becomes the inaugural Caribbean nation to make a World Cup and sparked a celebration from fans at the Hodges Stadium.

The USA now enter a repecharge world group in late 2019 in an effort to pick up one of the remaining qualifying places in 2021.

USA 10
Cory Makelim, Ryan Burroughs, Brandon Anderson, Bureta Faraimo, David Washington, Danny Howard, Connor Donehue, Mark Offerdahl, Kristian Freed, Andrew Kneisly, Joe Eichner, Jerome Veve, Haveatama Luani. Substitutes: Jamil Robinson, Nick Newlin, Kyle Denham, Chris Wiggins
Tries: Donehue (35), Burroughs (38), Goal: Faraimo 1/2

JAMAICA 16
Ashton Golding, Aaron Jones-Bishop, Ben Jones-Bishop, Joseph Brown, Alex Brown, James Woodburn-Hall, Jy-Mel Coleman, Jonathan Magrin, Lamont Bryan, Omari Caro, Mo Agoro, Joel Farrell, Keenen Tomlinson. Substitutes: Renaldo Wade, Ross Peltier, Jacob Ogden Khamisi McKain
Tries: Farrell (21), Ogden (29) Goals: Coleman 4/6

Referee: Ben Thaler (England)
Half time: 10-16

For a full recap view, the USA Rugby League article.