IT IS not easy to hold one’s composure under strain and stress especially when playing in front of one’s home crowd where support is overwhelming and still manage to come away with a commanding victory.

However, the National 15s rugby team of Guyana did just that last Saturday at the National Park against their nemesis Trinidad and Tobago, where over 450 persons, 75% of whom wore green, cheered them on to a commanding 15-8 victory in their North American Caribbean Rugby Football Association (NACRA) Caribbean 15s Championships.
The never-say-die attitude that was displayed by the Guyanese, who were dubbed the ‘Green Machine’ by their skipper Ryan Gonsalves, even when T&T went ahead 8-3 early in the second half, must be commended.
They had numerous opportunities to take penalty kicks offered, but opted to use their hands and speed to outsmart their opponents, resulting in two resounding tries being scored by USA-based Vallon Adams and substitute Chris Singh, with the latter coming in the dying seconds of the contest.
Gonsalves himself set the tone for the team when he scored in the first half from a penalty kick taken from approximately 25 metres out for a 3-0 lead, but what was noteworthy was the way the Green Machine handled themselves in the face of unrelenting pressure from the T&T team.
Even when they were down 3-8, the Green Machine never gave up, as they attacked relentlessly to level the score and when they did, they did not stop there, as they took the attack to the Trinidadians in search of the commanding win, which they got through Singh’s try.
First of all, the executives of the Guyana Football Rugby Union (GFRU), led by president Peter Greene worked overtime to ensure the team was adequately prepared for the NACRA Championships, which began with a 48-19 win over Barbados.
Greene and the management team for the Green Machine, led by senior vice-president Mike McCormack and Assistant Manager Robin Roberts and others, had the guys in training on a daily basis in the National Park prior to the all-important clash with T&T.
In Greene’s invited comment after the win, he called on all and sundry to support the team since there are many necessities to be met ahead of their next round of matches, which will be much tougher than the previous clash.
There are things such as nutrition and even six-peg boots for the players to wear in the event of rainy or wet conditions, as was evident last week Saturday when the condition was soggy underfoot and due to a lack of six-peg boots several players were sliding.
Said Greene “We have done everything within our power and limitation to ensure the team is adequately prepared for this matchup, so it is no longer what if, but when, and I can safely say that the guys are bubbling over with confidence, fit and ready to go mentally and physically.”
Then came the corporate support from Banks DIH, who through their GT Genuine Lager Beer, backed the team to come away with the win against T&T, for which they duly delivered and now wait on the winner of the North Zone which comprises Cayman Islands, Bermuda and defending champions USA South.
Rugby is definitely on the move, but if Guyana’s Green Machine are to get past the next hurdle, then all and sundry have to put their hands to the wheel and emulate Banks DIH with their support; for at the end of the day, when the team win, all of Guyana would rejoice, something that was evident last Saturday, when the Guyanese, in jubilation, rushed unto the field at the sound of the final whistle.

(Says Calvin Roberts)