>> Richmond flyer puts Jamaica on 7s map
RICHMOND winger Conan Osbourne defied the pain of a broken wrist and an injured ankle as Jamaica dramatically booked a ticket to Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018, in a ‘rags to riches’ storyline that the Cool
Runnings scriptwriters would be proud to call their own.
The Reggae Crocs’ crocked captain scored with the last play of the game in the final of the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens to stun sixtime champions and pre-tournament favourites Guyana and send his scratch team through to next year’s tournament in San Francisco instead.
As RAN champions, Jamaica have earned the right to compete with the game’s elite in 2018, at the World Cup as well as the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in Australia and the Hong Kong Sevens.
“It was all a bit overwhelming at the end. I got a bit emotional, some people were on the floor, others were jumping up and down … it was all a bit of a blur to be honest,” Osbourne told The Rugby Paper.
“Nobody expected anything from us, so to come out and make a World Cup is a dream come true for the players.”
Osbourne delayed having surgery on his wrist until the Wednesday after the tournament, as the chance to help Jamaica make history was too big an opportunity to pass up.
But the Reggae Crocs’ dream of becoming the first-ever Caribbean team to make it onto Sevens’ biggest stage looked over when Guyana scored a fourth try to lead by three points with just 30 seconds to go.
But former Bath and York University student Osbourne, who made his first-team debut for Richmond against Ealing in the B&I Cup this season, came up trumps when it mattered for a final scoreline of 28-24.
“What most of us didn’t realise was that when we took the lineout at the end of the game the clock had gone dead. We ended up losing the lineout and if they’d have knocked on or the ball had gone out of play, it would have been game over. Thankfully one of our players jumped on the loose ball, we recycled it and I managed to go over.
“Only our scrum-half Marcus (Webber) was aware that time was up, as he’d heard the referee’s timer beeping at the lineout. I didn’t have a clue though, so I took my time dotting the ball down in a bid to run the clock down. But Marcus came running over screaming at me to put it down and that’s when I knew that we’d done it.
“For most of us, we thought that qualifying for last year’s Hong Kong (series qualifier) was the pinnacle of our careers, because you never expect to be playing in the biggest tournament in the world.
“I said to the boys afterwards that while Hong Kong was an amazing experience, we were only playing in the qualifying part of it whereas at the World Cup we’ll be playing the best of the best in a competition that crowns the world champions.
“The boys are absolutely buzzing at the thought that we might draw England.”
Born in West London and raised in Kent, Osbourne qualifies for Jamaica through his paternal grandparents.
Like him, most of the squad have dual-heritage and are based in England, while coach Marcel Garvey,
below, the former Gloucester and Worcester winger, lives in France.
Lack of funding is a continual issue for the Reggae Crocs and impacts on the availability of island-based players as many cannot afford the flights for international competitions.
Osbourne added: “Hopefully more sponsors will come on board now we’ve qualified for the World Cup. Most of the money on the island goes to track and field and a bit to soccer and there isn’t that much knowledge of rugby.
“Getting to the World Cup has helped raise awareness. The players and management who returned home to the island were greeted by a TV news crew and the Prime Minister tweeted about it too.”