Guyana defeat Barbados 20-7 to win South Zone
HOSTS Guyana recorded their second consecutive victory in round two of the 2011 North American and Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) 15s Rugby Championships, allowing them to be the victors of the South Zone, as they defeated Barbados 20-7 at the Guyana National Stadium yesterday. The home team, who are currently ranked No.57 by the International Rugby Union (IRB) following their nail-biting 22-20 victory over Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) two weeks ago, enjoyed good ball possession over their opponents from the Land of the Flying Fish.
The Guyanese commanded the rucks and mauls and won their line-outs, an area coach Theodore Henry said they were working on, after their victory over T&T.
There were some players on the Guyana side who felt the need to do it all by themselves but the ability to operate as a complete unit allowed the Guyanese side to prevail.
Avery Cobrin opened the scoring for Guyana in the early minutes before Ryan Gonsalves missed the conversion kick in a low attempt towards goal, but made amends with a try that saw Guyana take a 10-0 lead.
Following Guyana’s next missed conversion, Barbados managed to open their scoring through a Sean Ward try which was converted by Murray Dow that pulled the visitors to within three points of their hosts as the scoreline read 10-7.
But Guyana were awarded a penalty 15 yards from goal and same was successfully converted by Gonsalves before Kevin McKenzie made his presence felt when he scored a try that Gonsalves converted.
After the halftime break it was much of a see-saw battle with Barbados having some good runs near the Guyanese try line but the defence of the team from the Land of Many Waters stood firm to prevent them from further scoring.
Speaking to Henry after the victory was achieved, the head coach stated: “As much as I am happy with the victory I didn’t like how we achieved it. There were a lot of unforced errors and I think we could have played without that.
“We are known for our speed and handling which always gives them the upper hand but we did not get to use it as we should, but will be working on same before our next match,” he added.
Finally he said: “From here we move to the Caribbean championships and that is the real important competition where we face the North Zone winners in Bermuda who defeated Mexico to take that area’s championship.”