Jamaica's Lamont Bryan takes on the USA in 2010 Atlantic Cup with teammate Romeo Monteith covering him. Jamaica will face the US in a crucial World Cup Qualifer on Sunday. - contributed

Jamaica's Rugby League team yesterday took a major step towards qualifying for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup by defeating South Africa 20-6 at Campbell's Field in Philadelphia.

Two tries by Wayne Allen and one each from captain Paul White and Ryan Grant, along with conversions from Jymel Coleman, sealed the win for the Rugby Reggae Boyz.

The win for Jamaica knocked the South African Rhinos out of contention as the latter lost their opening match to the United States Tomahawks 40-4 last Saturday when the Atlantic Region World Cup Qualifiers began. Jamaica now have to beat the home team USA to automatically qualify for the World Cup set for the United Kingdom.

In a hard-fought game in adverse weather conditions, Jamaica were 10-0 up on the Rhinos within the first 15 minutes but were only holding on to a slim lead of 10-6 at half-time. Jamaica then extended their lead 14-6 with five minutes to go before closing out the match. The win was only Jamaica's second international win from five starts but it now gives them a great shot at making history.

"It was a very tough game, the weather was horrible, it was raining all day, and it was difficult to handle the ball," said team manager Romeo Monteith.

"However, the boys were able to maintain their concentration and defend valiantly against a very physical South African team."

Monteith explained that the members of the team are naturally pleased with the outcome but are very wary of the United States who they play on Sunday. As such, they plan to get back to work preparing for that match as quickly as possible.

"They know that the job is only halfway done. We have a difficult game against the US, who are favoured to win on Sunday, so we will get back to preparing for that encounter."

The players will get today off but will then have training sessions on Friday and Saturday leading up to Sunday's crucial match. Monteith believes that despite the challenge of trying to topple the US at home, the Rugby Reggae Boyz are more than capable of pulling out a win.

"We just have to play to our strengths - speed and power in the middle of the field - and then get the ball out wide to our wingers and centres to finish off things," he said.