TWO penalties from Tom Edwards and a try from Thomas Greenslade enabled Bermuda to defeat Guyana 11-0, to lift the 2011 North American and Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) 15s Caribbean Championships when the two met last evening at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence. The win is the Island’s first in well over a decade and their coach Lawrence Bird attributed the victory to their well-orchestrated and well-executed game plan.
Bermuda said that in order for them to win, they would have to stop Guyana from scoring. Using their immense breakaway speed would be key and also capitalising on slip-ups. The players all stuck to their coach’s plan that saw them play excellent defence.
Guyana also brought out a never-before-seen defensive line but paid dearly for two mistakes that saw Bermuda go up 6-0 from Edwards’ conversion of two well-taken penalty kicks.
Greenslade’s try came in a scramble with the Guyanese getting a little complacent on defence as the first half ended 11-0.
The home side never really had much chance of scoring as the Bermudans worked well to keep some of their key players at bay, especially the speedy captain Claudius Butts, Kevin McKenzie and Avery Corbin, who were all in good form in Guyana’s run to the final.
A vociferous crowd at Guyana’s premier venue stood cheering for the home side almost the entire game. The low score did not reflect the intensity of the game which was sustained throughout the night.
At the blast of the referee’s Fox40 to signal the end of the game, the Guyanese players’ faces told a story of dejection since it’s the second consecutive time that they had reached the finals of the tournament and lost.
In 2008, Guyana had defeated Bermuda to clash with Trinidad and Tobago where they lost while the Bermudans had claimed third place.
Guyana coach Theodore Henry said that while he’s unhappy with the result, he was proud of his team’s performance, given the fact that his side comprised  mainly of Under-19 players and at least their effort this year showed that Guyana are also a force to be reckoned with in 15s Rugby.
He further stated that Guyana focused on the Rugby 7s format over recent years and he hopes that the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) will now pay more emphasis on the country’s 15s programme, based on their performance this year.