LEIGHTON LEVY, STAR Writer

National Rugby League coach, Romeo Monteith, was full of praise for his Reggae Warriors that were last weekend declared joint champions of the 2015 USA Rugby League 9's Championships held in Philadelphia.

The Jamaica 'A' team was tied 6-6 at half-time with the Philadelphia Fight in the final when lightning caused the game to be called off.

Jamaica's Renaldo Wade was one of two MVPs named for the tournament. He was outstanding throughout the tournament, using speed and deft footwork to create holes for himself and team-mates in their opponents' defence, scoring nine tries, converting many of them, including one at the buzzer to get his team into the semi-finals against the Brantford Broncos.

In group play, the Reggae Warriors defeated the Brooklyn Kings 24-0, but lost to the Fight 4-14 and Canadian team Brantford Broncos 4-26.

Following group play, the teams were re-seeded and then engaged in inter-group play. The Warriors eliminated the Broncos and Echidnas en route to the final.

"It was a very good performance," Monteith said. "We paced ourselves because our objective to make at the least the semi-finals."

Monteith revealed that the loss against the Broncos resulted from a strategy not to show their true strength too early.

"It was our plan not to lose but we didn't field our strongest team against them because we knew we would play them again in the knockout game so we were pretty confident even though they beat us the first time."

The win got the team into the semi-finals where they played they previously undefeated Echidnas

" I think the team showed a great deal of maturity because though they had lost two games in the group stages it did not affect their confidence," said Monteith.