DESPITE a spirited performance, Guyana’s National 15s rugby team fell 36-48 to Mexico in their final game of the Americas Rugby Challenge in Colombia yesterday.

The Ryan Gonsalves-captained team was hoping for a win against their Rugby Americas North (RAN) rivals, after failing to impress in their two previous outings in Medellín against Colombia (71-7) and Paraguay (86-7).

Cloyd Prowell scored two tries, while O’Neal Charles, Claudius Butts, Richard Staglon and Lancelot Adonis all crossed the try line once for Guyana, while Gonsalves and Daniel DeAbreu made good of the conversions that were scored.

The tournament, which was eventually won by Colombia, who played unbeaten, marked the first time Guyana faced teams from the South American region in Rugby, in the 15s format.

Speaking to Chronicle Sport after the game, Gonsalves said Guyana should have won the game, but the easy tries that were allowed in the first half, came back to haunt the ‘Green Machine’.

Gonsalves admitted that the level of rugby experienced in Colombia was unlike anything the Guyanese ruggers would have faced in the 15s format, but pointed out that “the more games you play at this level, the better you get. We saw the improvement, but we really should have won this game (against Mexico). It’s just for us to build from this now.”

The scrum-half said, that looking ahead, the future is bright for Guyana who will host Cayman Islands later in the year at a date to be announced by the Guyana Rugby Football Union. (GRFU).