– Women’s side suffer mixed results on opening day

GUYANA’s ‘Green Machine’, the defending Men’s Sevens Rugby Americas North (RAN) Champions, made a successful start to their championships title defence, winning both matches on Day One of the tournament, which is being held at the picturesque Campo Marte, a military and equestrian venue in the heart of Mexico City, Mexico, yesterday.
As six-time men’s champions, Guyana started as one of the favourites to claim the coveted title and a ticket to San Francisco for RWC Sevens 2018.

In their first game of the tournament, the Dwayne Schroeder-led ‘Green Machine’ first disposed of the Cayman Islands 26 – 14, with Dominic Lespierre, Lancelot Adonis, Schroder, Claudius Butts and Rickford Cummings scoring in the game.
Guyana then defeated Barbados 28 – 21, thanks to Lespierre, Adonis, Butts, Cummings, Richard Staglon, Avery Corbin and Schroder.

Guyana will play Bermuda and Trinidad and Tobago today in their final pool game.
Meanwhile, for the women–the former RAN Caribbean Champions–after a 19 – 12 win against Jamaica, they fell 5 – 12 against Trinidad and Tobago. However, the Guyanese women ended day one with a 17 – 12 win against the Dominican Republic.

Today, the ‘GT’ women will face host Mexico, Bermuda and French Guiana.
One men’s and one women’s team will qualify for next year’s Rugby World Cup Sevens and the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series qualifier in Hong Kong, while places at the Commonwealth Games and Central American and Caribbean Sports Organisation (CACSO) Games are also on the line.