Guyana steamroll Barbados 48-19 to advance to next round

GUYANA commenced their quest to regain the North American Caribbean Rugby Football Association (NACRA) Caribbean 15s Championship title, with a steamroller-like performance over Barbados, last Saturday, at the Garrison Savannah, to come away with a 48-19 victory.The Guyanese scored eight tries and got four conversions to their hosts’ three tries and two conversions, in the process sending an ominous warning to Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), even though University of Guyana Wolves’ Jamal Angus made his debut and picked up a yellow card as well.
The match saw the Guyanese ruggers introduce their Barbados counterparts to ‘Samba style’ rugby with an exhilarating and entertaining display of attacking play, much to the delight of the small gathering of Barbados-based Guyanese supporters in attendance.
Unlike last year’s performance where a slow-starting Guyana found themselves 19-0 down at halftime, this year’s team simply tore into the highly-vaunted Barbados forward line, matching them man-to-man, coupled with fast and speedy breaks down the wing and through the centre that left the opposition’s defence in tatters.
Tries by Avery Corbin (8th, 65th), Rondel McArthur (13th), Theodore Henry (36th), Claudius Butts (59th), Carl Lewis (62nd, 77th), Cloyd Prowell (80th) with four of eight successful conversions by skipper Ryan Gonsalves saw the game sealed in Guyana’s favour, following their half-time score that read 19-7.
The National team returned home last Sunday and will re-commence training for their final round-robin game against nemesis Trinidad and Tobago, who will commence their quest against Barbados this Saturday in a must-win match, prior to facing off against Guyana June 7 in Guyana, in what is billed as the final.
Winner of the South Zone will play off against the winners of the North Zone (featuring reigning champions USA South, Bermuda and Cayman Islands) for the undisputed title of overall Champions on June 28.
USA South have already commenced their quest to retain the Championship titles with a convincing 33-6 win against Bermuda, while matches in this zone will continue on June 7, when Cayman Islands face Bermuda and USA South one week later.