Jamaica has provided a strong candidate for moment of the Rugby League World Cup – scoring their first try at the competition in the dying minutes of their clash against New Zealand.
Already down 68-0, a wobbly kick was put up by the Jamaicans, and it was put down by Brandon Smith.
In his 300th professional game, Ben Jones-Bishop scooped up the ball and scored, almost bringing the house down in the process.
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“Have a look at the reaction. Hold the front page of the Jamaican post – that’s your front page,” Andrew Voss said in commentary.
“Jamaica’s first ever try at a Rugby league world cup, and it goes to one of their greats. The man who’s been there from day one just about … even the trainers are celebrating.
“You can watch it over and over and over again. That’s a great world cup moment.”
The icing on the cake was the conversion from Kieran Rush. The final score was 68-6.
After the game, Jones-Bishop – who has had an illustrious career in the Super League, including two premierships – was given a guard of honour as he walked off the field.
He said it was a surreal moment to score Jamaica’s first try.
“I don’t have many words to be honest. It’s a great feeling and I’m happy the hard work we’ve put in we were rewarded for,” he said.
“I think we deserved something and I thought in the first half we really dug in and showed some heart and I’m glad we came away with a try.”
Despite having already conceded 13 tries to their far superior opponents, the Jamaican’s played with heart throughout the match.
Coach Romeo Monteith said it was something the team had talked about coming into the world cup.
“You can’t predict the score, but if you give it your all I’ll be happy,” he said.
“Tonight I saw they fought for every minute of the game, and I mean to score that try, I’m really pleased.
“From day one when we started this project, it’s always been about doing something special, I mean just being in this world cup is special to us, we’ve been trying for years to get here, two failed qualifying attempts, and now we’re here it’s really a dream come true.
“Each game it’s just about them going out there and doing their best. Today I saw a lift in their performance compared to the Ireland game – we tried a lot more stuff … I was just really pleased with the energy.”
And on the try: “You couldn’t have written a better script – except for a Jamaican win of course – but lovely of Ben to get that try.”
New Zealand coach Michael Maguire said he was happy to see the Jamaican squad perform strongly, given his side had spent time with them in the lead up to the world cup.
“It’s a real credit to the Jamaicans – they’ve come together and we were able to spend a little bit of time a couple of weeks ago during our warm up match,” he said.
“So to see those guys go out and perform the way they did with a passion, I think it’ll do down in history now scoring that try, good on them.”
Injuries to Marata Niukore (pec) and Moses Leota (hamstring) will be the only concerns for New Zealand. Both will undergo scans and will be assessed from there.
Elsewhere, Fiji smashed Italy 60-4 while four second half-tries led England to a 42-18 win over France.
The second week concludes Monday morning (AEDT) when Lebanon take on Ireland and Samoa face Greece.
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