JOINT Jamaican coach Jy-Mel Coleman paid tribute to his hard-working yet decimated side despite the Reggae Warriors being forced to surrender a 10-point first-half advantage before going down 22-16 to Wales in a damp and dismal Neath on Tuesday.

Coleman, the Reggae Warriors’ all-time leading points scorer, was forced to come out of retirement and play the full 80 minutes at stand-off half as the injury-stricken visitors were forced to dig deep without anyone left on the substitutes bench at the final hooter.

“James Woodburn-Hall limped out of the pre-match warm-up with a calf problem,” explained Coleman, who was joined by former Hull KR forward Rhys Lovegrove in taking charge of the nation’s rugby league side in the absence of senior coaching figures Romeo Monteith and elder brother Jermaine Coleman.

“It was only my second game in three years and first since the 2022 World Cup,” continued Jy-Mel who went on to describe other injuries which ultimately crippled a brave attempt to kick off the Warriors’ first of two international friendlies ahead of next year’s bid to qualify for the World Cup in Australia.

“We had a really good dig and I’m proud of everyone’s efforts.

“It’s not fair to single too many out but especially Kieran Rush whose positional kicking was very good before he had to go off, Darius Carter was impressive too and has a great future, while Aaron Small put in a great shift defensively — and we might have conceded more tries if it hadn’t been for him.”

An early 40-20 put Jamaica on the front foot, helping them upfield where Keenan Tomlinson got over the line but was held up before Sheffield Eagles’ Ben Jones-Bishop — whose younger brother Aaron scored a hat-trick in a 16-16 draw the last time the two nations met eight years ago — smuggled his way over to give the Caribbean side the lead in the fifth minute.

The Reggae Warriors then benefited from a bit of good fortune as a Welsh defender missed an attempt to clear a short kick to the in-goal area and NRL (Australia’s premier competition) star Alex Young pounced to score again.

Unfortunately, Huddersfield Giants young half-back Rush was wayward with both conversion attempts in muddy and slippery conditions, which made handling and kicking difficult.

Tough tackling helped keep the Welsh team pinned in their own territory for much of the opening half-hour, and when the referee deemed a ball steal it was third time lucky for Rush who bisected the posts with the subsequent penalty.

It remained 10-0 until just before the interval when Welsh left winger Rhys Williams was first to a grubber kick and touched down, although Matty Fozard failed with the difficult touchline conversion, leaving the visitors still six points ahead at the interval.

If the Caribbean side had bossed much of the first half, Wales emerged with intent in the second and quickly levelled the scores through a Huw Worthington try and a Fozard goal.

A missed tackle led to the third Welsh try from Max Clarke in the corner, which edged the home side ahead for the first time on the hour.

Almost immediately, another Wales score from former Wigan star Gil Dudson extended the hosts’ advantage, and Fozard’s frustrating experiences with the boot — just one successful kick in five attempts — were mitigated when he grabbed another four-pointer to give Wales a 22-10 advantage.

A spectacular break and try under the posts by Bedford Tigers amateur Joshua Hudson-Lett — converted by another international debutant, Huddersfield asset Carter — gave the largely heritage players-dominated Warriors late hope but the home nation held on for victory in their first game since the 2022 World Cup.

Jamaica’s preparation for the World Series Group — the last qualification stage for the 2026 World Cup — continues with the Reggae Warriors parading an almost exclusively island and Americas-based team against Canada in Toronto on Saturday.