… Great Human potential – Giannantonio

GUYANA’S Green Machine have added another trump card to their arsenal with the introduction of an Argentinian scrum coach on Tuesday. Deiego Giannantonio was presented to the media and other rugby stakeholders during a simple ceremony at the Argentine Embassy in Georgetown yesterday, where it was announced that his stint with the unit would be just about two weeks.

In that time, he will work exclusively with the national 15s team as they prepare to play the final against their hosts Mexico on October 1.
Speaking through a translator Nicholas Frazer, the coach who arrived on Monday and begun work on Tuesday contended:

“I’d like to give to you in this short time I have, some tools for this very important game against Mexico.”

“In the short time that I have seen them, I believe that there is great human potential in the players as well as the staff, but I believe that they must work a lot more as a team. Technically, I think that they can still get better but I see them now as very good,”
Meanwhile, Argentinian ambassador said, “This is a good example for future cooperation,” noting that the process on his end took three days and some assistance from the Argentine Rugby Association and Foreign Affairs Ministry.
“He (Deiego) has been working for many years with the world of rugby, he himself was a senior member of the Pumas, the 15s national team in the 90s,”

The second of the three parties involved, the Guyana Olympic Association through executive member Charles Corbin, contended that the body jumped at the Idea of support for the sport.
He noted that the GOA covered the airfare and accommodation for Mr Giannantonio and feels that more mixtures of cultures and tactics from coaches outside of Guyana are the way forward.
National coach Lawrence Adonis feels, “He (Deiego) is really and truly helping us out in our weaker parts of the game, especially in the scrums, the malls, the wraps, lineouts and so on and even some of the structures we currently have.”
“It is working well for us, and we would like to see if we can keep him a bit more or have him

back sometime,” continued Adonis.

The third party in the agreement, the Government of Guyana, represented by Senior Minister of Education, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, stated that sport makes for more rounded individuals.
Others in attendance at the ceremony were Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) Patron Kit Nascimento, president Peter Green, manager Robin Roberts, senior player Avery Corbin and Director of Sport Christopher Jones
Meanwhile, the government also chipped in by providing $2M towards the team’s preparation for the RAN finals, with the funding expected to go towards getting the team further acclimatised to the Mexican altitude.
Giannantonio will be a part of the team’s touring contingent to Mexico and from there, he will return to Argentina.