GRFU praises President Granger’s intervention to secure Government funding

GUYANA Men’s and Women’s Rugby teams departed Guyana yesterday for Mexico City, Mexico, where they will compete in the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens Championship, November 25-26, at the Campo Marte athletic grounds.

This year’s RAN Sevens Championship will serve as a qualifier for the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Sports Organisation (CACSO) Games, 2018 Hong Kong Sevens, Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 and Commonwealth Games.
While the Men are considered the most feared and decorated in the Region, the Women’s team will be making a return to international action after a few years off.

The Men’s tournament has been divided into three groups with Guyana heading Pool A (including Barbados and Cayman Islands), Jamaica heading Pool B (Bermuda and Dominican Republic) and Trinidad and Tobago heading Pool C, featuring hosts Mexico, Curacao and the British Virgin Islands (BVI).
Looking at the squad, notably missing are captain Ryan Gonsalves and US-based Vallon Adams, both of whom have been instrumental to Guyana’s success over the years on the international scene. In fact, both Gonsalves and Adams featured for Guyana in April, when the Green Machine participated in the Hong Kong Sevens tournament in Japan.

The Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU), upon releasing the squad did not state the reason for the two stalwarts’ omission.
England-based Dominic Lespierre will be making a return to the team, which will be captained by Dwayne Schroeder and also features Avery Corbin, Patrick King, Richard Staglon, Ronald Mayers, Claudius Butts, Lance Adonis, Rondell McArthur, Jamal Angus, Rickford Cummings and Peabo Hamilton.

Laurence Adonis is the team’s coach and will be assisted by Australia-based Angus Thompson. Phillip Browne is the team’s physiotherapist.
In the Women’s tournament Guyana will face Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Mexico, Bermuda, the Dominican Republic and French Guiana, as they play in a round-robin format with the winner being the team with the best results.
Collette Hope will captain the women’s team, while head coach Theodore Henry will go along with Latoya Cordis, Alisha Mentore, Cleotta Dublin, Sabola Gray, Cindy Fraser, Tricia Munroe, Sasha James, Shonette McFarlane, Abioce Heywood, Kean Andrews and Mandy Browne.

Meanwhile, the GRFU expressed its gratitude to President David Granger for intervening and affording the National teams the chance to participate at the Championship. The GRFU was also grateful for the contributions from GOA, and Noble House Seafoods, Ministry of Natural Resources, Minister of State Joseph Harmon and Minister of Social Cohesion George Norton.

The Union had long been struggling to secure funding to properly prepare the team and to ensure that they travelled.
While the other countries were afforded the chance to feature in several Sevens tournament overseas, the Green Machine, the defending Caribbean Champions, have not played a sevens game since April when they turned out, again, at one of the IRB’s biggest tournament in Hong Kong.

“Despite not attaining the targets, the teams departed prepared for sacrifices to bring glory to their country,” the GRFU said in a release.