Jamaica's Lady Crocs Begin CAC Games Rugby Sevens Campaign Against Costa Rica

Jamaica's women's rugby sevens team steps onto the field on Saturday to start its Central American and Caribbean Games campaign, with the squad chasing what would be a first medal for the country in the event. The Lady Crocs meet Costa Rica at 10:00 a.m. Jamaica time in the preliminary round and return later the same day to face Mexico at 1:04 p.m.

Captain Naomi Todd said the group has been building towards this tournament over a long stretch. "We have definitely worked very hard over the past couple of years reaching for the CAC Games," she said, adding that the players want to medal and to finish higher than they did at the last edition of the Games.

Todd said backing from home will count, as will the players' trust in each other. "We have each other's back," she said. "We have done everything that is needed to be done to reach where we are right now and to just execute when the time comes."

Assistant coach Tajay Lynch believes the preparation has left the team in a strong position. He said the coaching staff held weekly meetings across the six weeks leading into the tournament, and that "everybody would have been in good conditions, good spirits, good minds."

According to Lynch, training deliberately mirrored match conditions so the players could hold up through high-intensity intervals while getting the details right in set plays, tackling, defence and attack. He said the squad has hit a standard the staff is satisfied with, and that the players themselves have been making sure they meet it.

The Lady Crocs have never won a medal at the Games. They are looking to match the achievement of Jamaica's men's team, which claimed silver at the 2023 edition.