Wakefield Trinity winger Ben Jones-Bishop optimistic about Jamaica's international future

The Reggae Warriors were beaten 38-6 by England Knights at Headingley on Sunday as their preparations for the 2021 Rugby World Cup continued.

Jamaica qualified for the tournament last year and Jones-Bishop feels that they will only get better as they spend more time together on the field.

“It was good, obviously the first half wasn’t what we wanted, but the second half was a lot better,” said the Wakefield player.

“I think generally the more time we spend together, the better we will be.

“We took a little while to get going, but we’d been in camp since Tuesday and we had limited time on the field together.

“There’s lots of things to work on, but it’s the start of a process, of a journey, over a couple of years.”

The Knights boasted a squad of full-time Super League players compared to Jamaica who had numerous Championship players in their line-up.

The Reggae Warriors even plucked players from the community game but did have the experience of Ashton Golding and Michael Lawrence to call upon.

“Obviously it was a big step playing England Knights,” admitted Jones-Bishop.

“They are all full-time players and some of our boys aren’t, but it was a good marker to see where we are at.

“There’s some good things to take away from it and also things we can improve on.

“Being in camp together, the week as a whole was good.

“The next time we meet up we’ll keep building on things and keep improving.”

Jones-Bishop made his debut for Jamaica in last year’s World Cup qualifiers and added: “It’s a great group.

“That’s what I found last year, in the qualifiers, which was my first experience of the group.

“It is different to club rugby, a lot of them are part-time players and the chemistry they have is incredible. The welcomed me really well and we have a good time in camp.”

Former Wakefield winger Mason Caton-Brown scored Jamaica’s only try on Sunday afternoon.

Greg Minikin scored a hat-trick for England while Tom Lineham’s brace, along with tries from Toby King and Joe Greenwood completed the scoring.