GUYANA Men’s rugby team swept to their sixth championship in succession in grand style at the Garrison in Barbados.  The final saw the fighting Jaguars demolish Cayman Islands 27-0, taking up where they left off in the pool games on Saturday.
Guyana beat Martinique 17-7 in their first game of the knock-out rounds and in the semi-final they decisively avenged the defeat by Mexico in the Pan-American Games, rolling over the Central American side 17-5.
Cayman Islands removed both Trinidad and Jamaica en route to the final.
The extent of the dominance of the Guyana Men’s team can be gauged by the fact that they accumulated 190 points in their six games while conceding only twelve, an average of almost 30 points difference over the six games.
Guyana Women did not fare so well. Having lost to USA South on Saturday, they lost in a narrow quarterfinal to Jamaica. The game ended at 10-10 before moving into a sudden-death extra time, in which the reggae girls scored in the first minute, bringing an end to the Guyana Women’s reign as female Caribbean champions.
The girls went on to win the Plate by beating St Lucia by a resounding 26-0, but after losing their most penetrating player Colette Hope to injury the previous day, the chances of retaining their championship status were always going to be an uphill task.
Before presenting the winners with their medals, NACRA Chief Executive Officer Tom Jones announced at the presentation ceremony, that the winners of the tournament were to be invited to the Hong Kong Sevens which takes place early next year.
This will replace the invitation normally extended to the North American leg of the World Sevens Series. Guyana Men’s Team are now eligible for the Hong Kong tournament – the most prestigious of the World Sevens Series event.