DURING a press briefing at the Olympic House yesterday with members of  Guyana’s Senior team that competed at the recently concluded NACRA Sevens Regional RWC Qualifiers, they disclosed that the major issue which led to the poor performance was lack of funding.
Managers of the team and Chairman of Selectors for the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) Mike McCormack said there were numerous factors that played a part in this tournament that caused the team not to be on top of their game.
Firstly he said, “Our preparation was deeply affected by the weather and even though we got the stadium when we asked, it was not as effective as when we would have the rugby field in the National Park.”
McCormack went on to say that Guyana never got a chance to practise or play together as a team prior to the August 25-26 event. Three of the players joined the team in Canada three days before the opening of the tournament and this was so because of the funding situation.
Meanwhile, the opposing regional teams that have been at Guyana’s mercies for six consecutive years were quite prepared for the tournament and Guyana were upset by Barbados on the opening day.
McCormack disclosed that teams such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica were on tours to either the USA or Canada leading up to the qualifiers.
The funding issue caused Guyana to play without senior player Kevin McKenzie who was a critical addition to the lineup.
A Guyanese/Canadian group greeted the team and helped them raise a total of Cdn$1 700 for the three days before the tournament. McCormack felt if they had been in Canada at least a week prior to the tournament the funding issue would have been helped a bit more.
However, he said, in the coming year the GRFU will be looking to utilise many more resources and to restructure their system in the hope of getting back to where they were.
Head coach Theodore Henry implied that there is still hope for Guyana. “It was just the lack of finance that impeded us to not get to that goal that we set. All is not lost, with the right kind of support we can get back to the top in a hurry,” he said.
“I think that the other associations were better equipped than we and it showed. While we practised at home they were able to get tours and get more acquainted with playing as a unit,” Henry stated.