,,, to now focus on Pan Am Games
THE Guyana National 15s Rugby team have lost their NACRA Caribbean title but they have gained the respect of the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) who yesterday labelled the team’s accomplishment as “significant”.
Playing at the National Stadium last Wednesday, the locals lost 11-0 to Bermuda in the North American and Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) Caribbean 15s final with the visitors winning on two penalties and a try.
Guyana, a five-time NACRA Caribbean 7s Champions, are better known for their dominance in the shortest format and the GRFU president Kit Nascimento yesterday said that they are more than pleased with the out come of the tournament.
Addressing the local media at a press conference hosted yesterday at the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) boardroom, the GRFU boss said, “I think sometimes we don’t put the level of our performance in perspective. We’re now the number two team in the entire Caribbean.”
He added that the “NACRA tournament was contested by 12 teams, North and South of the Caribbean and in sporting terms it’s equivalent to CONCACAF in soccer (football) and if we compared that with the sporting achievement of other teams out of Guyana we are way ahead of the rest and I think it’s important to put it in that perspective”
Even though Guyana had defeated Bermuda in 2008 when they played in the same tournament, Nascimento is of the opinion that the visitors are more experienced in 15s Rugby, with him stating “they (Bermuda) have the benefit of having players from at least 4/5 different rugby playing countries and a wealth of experience because they play regular 15s against teams from Canada and the USA and even England and we’re a young and growing 15s team”.
Meanwhile, Guyana coach Theodore Henry, who played in the last tournament where Guyana finished second to Trinidad and Tobago, believes that his charges did well despite falling short.
Henry, who in his first stint as National Coach, took his side to the final of a major tournament said, “We took a bunch of inexperienced players, a lot of debutants, under-19 players and we put together a 15-a-side team that can hold its own against the powerhouses in the Caribbean”.
“The fact of the matter is that we don’t play a lot of 15s Rugby in Guyana. We would play one tournament in a year. These teams play one tournament of 7s in an entire year while we play at least three to four tournaments of 7s in a year so we’re more 7s-oriented than 15s. So this is like treading on new grounds for us. It’s a work in progress but it depends on the amount of work the union puts into the programme,” said Henry.
Guyana will now shift their attention to Pan Am Games which will be held in Guadalajara Mexico from October 29 to 30 at the Tlaquepaque Stadium.
The Guyanese, along with the host nation, will join Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Canada and the USA to vie for the coveted title and while the groupings are not yet known, the GRFU says that preparations will begin shortly.
Guyana, who are also the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games sevens gold medallists, had qualified after winning their 5th NACRA 7s Caribbean title last year when the event was hosted at the National Stadium.
As Henry noted, Guyana are well known as the dominant force in 7s Rugby around the Caribbean, having won the regional title an unprecedented five times in succession.
However, all that will mean nothing heading into the tournament in Mexico, say Henry and Nascimento, as they rebuild to stand a better chance of being the only team to win a Pan Am medal for Guyana.