… late transport, field issues listed

THE Guyana Rugby Football Union is crying foul over the recently concluded finals of the Rugby Americas North (RAN) 15s championship against hosts Mexico. Guyana lost 33-3. In that final last Saturday and while the GRFU is not placing the blame entirely on their treatment in Mexico, some factors cannot be overstated, according to president Peter Green.
During a press briefing yesterday morning, the president did not mince words in saying, “The layout of the field accepted by the referees and match commissioner was illegal. The point remains that the rugby field according to international regulations was wrongly laid out.”
He noted that, in particular, the goalpost was on the dead-ball line and the try line was in front of the goalpost. Those issues, he said, caused a series of confusion to the players, with the body currently penning a legal document to the International Rugby Board.
“Right now, I’d say congratulations to Mexico, but at the same time, we are awaiting our objections to world rugby. That was an un-level playing field.”
“People would ask us, ‘why didn’t we object’? Simply because in our haste to warm up, no one realised that the marks were strange. I realised when the game started but that was too late,” Green admitted.
Apart from the field layout, the team was also late to the venue after the bus, organised by the Mexican federation, failed to show up, leaving the management to find its own transportation to the ground.
Upon arrival, the manager Robbie Roberts had requested of the said match commissioner an additional 45 minutes to an hour for warm up, to which they were told the maximum time awarded would be 15 minutes.
According to Roberts, their troubles in the North American country seemed deliberate as they were given no justice for those issues raised.
The loss, however, while due in part to the frustrations faced were not the only factors that influenced the loss, according to coach Lawrence Adonis.
“We started out well in that game against Mexico, we had them down in their half and we were really pressuring. But we left a lot of points on the court because we threw away at least three penalties. We had chances to really score and we didn’t.”
According to the coach, on return to the second half, the unit, in attempting to pressure Mexico, made mistakes which their opponents capitalised on.
He also praised the work of Argentine coach Deigo Giannantonio whose tactics ensured that the unit excelled in certain areas adding, “I don’t think that we will make a mistake like that moving forward. I think it’s a very resilient team moving forward and we will rebound.”
After thanking the relevant stakeholders, the government of Guyana (the National Sport Commission and the Ministry of Education), the Argentine government and John Fernandes, the GRFU boss turned his attention to the 7s game which begins shortly.