Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were the only double winners on day one of the 2024 Rugby Americas North (RAN) tournament as their men and women teams registered contrasting victories at the Larry Gomes Stadium on Friday.

Trinidad and Tobago’s men came from behind to secure an unlikely and dramatic 12-5 victory over Mexico, while the Twin Island Republic’s women thrashed Barbados 37-0, as both teams put themselves on course for top spots in their respective round-robin groups.

Meanwhile, Jamaica’s men edged Cayman Islands 22-21, while the women were 40-12 winners over the Dominican Republic.

Canada and Barbados were also victorious in men’s Tier One action, bettering Guyana 29-0 and Bermuda 19-7, respectively.

In the men’s Tier Two division, Curacao topped Turks and Caicos 31-5, and the Dominican Republic secured a 46-0 win over St Vincent & the Grenadines.

The other women’s encounter saw Mexico register a comfortable 39-0 over Trinidad and Tobago’s ‘B’ team.

Action continues on Saturday with Trinidad and Tobago's women and their Jamaican counterparts doing battle, while the hosts’ B team will cross swords with the Dominican Republic to get the day going.

Day Two Fixtures

Women

Trinidad and Tobago ‘B’ vs Dominican Republic

Trinidad and Tobago vs Jamaica

Trinidad and Tobago vs Dominican Republic

Trinidad and Tobago ‘B’ vs Barbados

Trinidad and Tobago vs Mexico

Trinidad and Tobago ‘B’ vs Jamaica

Men’s tier one

Trinidad and Tobago vs Jamaica

Trinidad and Tobago vs Cayman Islands

While pleased with their performance in a 0-1 loss to Jamaica in game one, Trinidad and Tobago's Head coach Angus Eve is anticipating even more improvements from his Soca Warriors when the two teams meet in the second game of the two-match series on Sunday.

With Jamaican debutante Kaheim Dixon scoring the game's lone goal in the 58th minute at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Friday, Eve opted to focus on the positives in the exercise, which provided an opportunity for several local-based players to make their national senior team debut.

Eve gave debut starts Tiger Tanks Club Sando pair of left back Shervohnez Hamilton and midfielder Kai Moos, while AC Port of Spain's versatile wing back Liam Burns also got his first start for the twin island republic. The overseas-based pair of Kai Garvey and Justin Obikwu, who started at the left wing and centre forward positions respectively, also found favour with Eve, who felt the new players adjusted well in their first outing.

"It is going to be difficult for these guys (Garvey and Obikwu) coming from where they are coming from and trying to adjust in just a couple days of work. I thought they adjusted well. They tried to bring the strengths they had to the group," Eve said in a post-match conference.

"For the most part, I thought the group did really well. We gave up a really soft goal and we could not get ourselves back in the game. I think it was a lack of belief and that happens when players are not accustomed to playing at this level consistently. For effort, you must give all of the guys an A," he added.

Still, with the main objective being to identify players to fit into his final squad for the upcoming Copa America playoff fixture against Canada on March 23, Eve is expected to look at a different line up with hopes that they will be mor fluid and consist in their play to give the coaching staff much to think about.