‘Crocs’ wear historic silver medal with pride
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Jamaica’s Rugby Sevens male team (Crocs) created history at the Central America and Caribbean (CAC) Games here when they captured the silver medal at the championships Tuesday.
The Crocs were beaten 28-7 by Colombia in a very entertaining final. It marks the first time that the Jamaican were winning a medal in Rugby Sevens at the CAC Games.
The Crocs’s silver medal was an upgrade from the bronze medal won in 2018 in Colombia.
Bruce Martin, technical director and coach of the Crocs, said he was very proud of his team’s performance despite their defeat to the Colombians in the final of the competition.
“I am feeling [good] about the performance because they have improved on their medal from the last time that they were here, and so they are building up nicely for the Olympic qualifiers later this year,” said Martin.
“We were limited to 10 players for this final because two of our starters could not compete, but our boys pushed on and they gave it their best shot and I am very proud of them,” he said.
“In fact, most of the boys were playing injured because it was eight games over three days, and so injuries got the best of us and fatigue,” Martin noted.
He added that he is hoping that this silver medal-winning performance will now help the sport to gain more recognition in Jamaica.
“This augurs well for the sport of rugby in Jamaica because this is the first time that Jamaica was getting a silver medal at the CAC Games, and I hope that a lot more persons will now come on board to support us,” he said.
It was the Jamaicans’ second medal of the championships after Ashley McKenzie won silver in the men’s judo competition on Saturday.
Jamaicans struck first in the match when Mikel Facey outran his opponents to score an easy try in the fifth minute of the match. However, the Colombians levelled the score in the final minute before half-time at 7-7.
The Colombians outplayed the Crocs in the final quarter and overpowered the Jamaicans to win the match quite comfortably.
Meanwhile, the Jamaican female team were left empty-handed as they went down 10-5 to Venezuela in their bronze medal match.
Colombia also won the gold medal after defeating Mexico 15-7 in the final of the women’s competition.
