A CONFIDENT Guyana National 15s rugby team departed Guyana today for Trinidad and Tobago where they will meet the men from the Twin Island Republic in the final of NACRA Southern Zone. The game which will be paid at the Fatima Ground tomorrow is more than just another final for the Guyanese but one where the side to cone out on top will have a showdown with the Northern Zone champions to determine the 2015 NACRA champs.

Guyana defeated USA (South) last year to claim the 2014 North American and Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA); the first in the country’s rich history in the sport.
In 2013, playing at the University of the West Indies (UWI) ground, Guyana fell 20-0 against Trinidad but now, two years later and with a NACRA title under their belt, the ‘Green Machine’ will look to demolish the team they describe as ‘stubborn opposition’.
The squad features Australia-based Kevin McKenzie, Rondell MacArthur, Jason Tyrell, Rockford Cummings, Dwayne Schroeder, Vallon Adams, Richard Staglon, Jamal Angus, Jermaine Prowell, Ryan Gonsalves, Peabo Hamilton, Theodore Henry, Claudius Butts, Avery Corbin and Ronald Mayers.
The reserve players are Jacques Archibald, Kevon David, Delroy Gordon, Troy Arjoon, Blaise Bailey, Lancelot Adonis, Leon Greaves and Randy James.
Henry, who also serves as the team’s head coach, said that the team is more than hungry not just to beat the Trinidadians but to also keep a stronghold on to the NACRA 15s title.
The dreadlocks-wearing coach is of the opinion that the game will be different from their first which was played at home against Barbados, winning 48-24, since Trinidad have always been their closest rival in the sport at all levels.
He said Guyana’s advantage is having the core of the team being that of their historic 7s side, since the players are all match-fit, having only recently returned from the Hong Kong Sevens.
The rest of the Caribbean and the world will be zeroed in on the region’s best rugby nation to see if their 2014 crusade was by accident or can be replicated.

By Rawle Toney