IT was not an easy opening day of the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens Championship for Guyana, as the country’s ‘ruggers’, also known as the ‘Green Machine’, went down hard to Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Cayman Islands at the Bodden National Sports Complex.

In their opening game, Guyana went down to Trinidad and Tobago 7-19, and later narrowly lost to Cayman Islands 12-14.

Playing Jamaica in their final game of the day, Guyana, who lost to the ‘Reggae Ruggers’ in the 2017 and 2018 finals, went down hard to the men from the ‘Land of Wood and Water’ (42-7).

By virtue of finishing at the bottom of the table in Pool B, Guyana will have to face the undefeated Canadians in the quarter-finals today.

The top team in the Men’s category of the tournament will qualify for the Olympics directly. The second- and third-placed teams will have another opportunity to qualify through the Repechage tournament in 2020.