Duhaney Park Red Sharks defeated Washington Boulevard Bulls 21-8 in a thrilling final to the Easter’s tournament held at the BB Coke High School in St Elizabeth on Saturday. It was a historic occasion as it was the first time that the parish of St Elizabeth was hosting a senior Men’s 9-a-side rugby league tournament for the first time.

Both clubs went undefeated during the group stage and had identical 3-0 records heading into the final. The Bulls raced to an early lead through tries from Javon Lewis and Andree Lee but the Red Sharks pulled level before half-time with tries from Shaquille Pollack and Javian Bryan.

In the second half, the Red Sharks took the ascendancy with a strong defensive display and denied the Bulls any points and extended their lead with additional tries from Adrian Thomas, Kenneth Walker, Marvin Thompson, and Jenson Morris.

Tournament MVP Chevaughn Bailey wrapped up the scoring with a drop goal.

“We wanted our best performance on the day as we have lost out on the last few 9’s titles. Credit to all teams on making the journey to St. Elizabeth and special commendations to St Bess Sledgehammers on organizing a great tournament,” said winning captain Marvin Thompson.

West Kingston Hyenas copped third place with a close 8-4 win over the Jamaica Defence Force while hosts St Bess Sledgehammers finished fifth after an 18-8 win over St Catherine Thundercats.

 Portmore Rugby League Club took seventh spot with a 15-0 result over the Liguanea Dragons.

RLJ Vice Chair Adrian Hall was impressed with the tournament.

 “It was fantastic to see seven teams travel from Kingston and St Catherine and ensure a successful tournament,” he said.

“We hope to widen the footprint of rugby league in St Elizabeth and the Easter 9s was a good advert for the game. The JMD$70,000 in total prize money for the top three teams added a special incentive for teams to perform to their best.”

The tournament that was sponsored by Cheddi’s Surveillance Cameras and Digital Services, provided good preparation for several national players who will compete for Jamaica in the USARL 9s on May 20 in Naples, Florida.

Defending champions Duhaney Park Red Sharks face Washington Boulevard Bulls, the latter in their first decider in the Jamaica Rugby League National Club Championship Grand Final on Saturday, September 17 at the University of West Indies Mona Bowl (kick-off 4 pm, local time). 

The Bulls, who joined the NCC in 2017, beat Jamaica Defence Force Warriors 24-18 in their semi-final, whilst the Red Sharks qualified for their sixth straight championship tie - and 14th in the last 16 years – by beating West Kingston Hyenas, 54-6.

 The Warriors and Hyenas meet as part of a Grand Final double-header to contest third place (kick-off 2 pm, local time), both games will be played at the UWI Mona Bowl.

Bulls Head Coach Derone Davis said of reaching the final: “Our first half was poor but we got it together in the second 40. Our forwards are usually our strength and gave us momentum but our back line stood up, especially defensively. Overall, I am proud of the team. For the finals, we hope we can put together a more complete performance as we will have to be at our best to challenge the champions.”

Adrian Brown with two tries and two goals led the way for Duhaney in their triumph.

“The semis was about getting our combinations right as we are still looking for the perfect game,” said Head Coach Roy Calvert. “The finals will be exciting, we are going for victory and are confident of achieving it but know we need to play a certain way to win. Bulls are a good team and have been on our heels all season.”

Community club rugby league returned to Jamaica for the first time in over two years with the playing of the Rugby League Jamaica Summer 9s at the Cedar Grove Academy on Saturday.

Nine community teams participated, and Washington Blvd Bulls came out winners with a hard fought 8-6 win over West Kingston Hyenas in the final. 

The tournament saw two new teams make their rugby league debut, Portmore Rugby League Club and Young Crocs Academy.

Young Crocs made it all the way to the main draw semi-finals before losing to the Hyenas 1-24, meanwhile, Portmore did themselves proud by advancing to the consolidation semi-finals before losing to Duhaney Park 16-18. 

The other teams in the tournament were Liguanea Dragons who lost 8-20 in the consolidation semi-finals and St. Bess Sledgehammers who lost 6-16 in the main draw semi-finals to the Bulls. 

In the consolidation bracket final Duhaney Park Redsharks edged the Jamaica Defence Force Warriors 18-14

Director of Rugby Romeo Monteith commented on the restart of domestic club rugby league.

"The rugby league family is overjoyed to return to community play, this game means a lot for the physical and mental wellbeing of so many and it is good to be back playing," Monteith said. 

"It was a great turnout of community teams, match officials and fans and we hope to build on this momentum as we look to launch our National Club Championship on June 6," he added.