THE ‘new-look’ Green Machine will ‘scrum off’ their quest to reclaim their Rugby Americas North title against Belize next Saturday, October 16, in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Organisers released the tournament’s fixtures on Friday evening, which will see nine countries vie for the coveted title.

The two-day tournament, set for the Meridian Fields in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, will see Guyana in Group C alongside Bermuda and Belize.

Three-time winners Jamaica were placed in Group A with the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos, while in Group B, Mexico will come up against Barbados and Curacao.

The Green Machine, seven-time winners of the prestigious tournament, will send a 12-man squad blended with youth and experience.

Jamal Angus will lead coach Theodore Henry’s team of experienced players which includes Godfrey Broomes, Osei McKenzie, Rondel McArthur, Lancelot Adonis, Avery Corbin and Peabo Hamilton.

Phibian Joseph, Tyresse Prescod, Oniel Charles, Jonathan Garnett and Lionel Holder are the other players on the team that will seek to return the RAN trophy to Guyana since Guyana surrendered the title to Jamaica (28-24) in 2017.

According to Henry, with the exception of Jamaica and Mexico, the other nations including Guyana have not seen any competitive action since the 2019 RAN Sevens tournament which was won by Canada.

Nonetheless, the team’s head coach is accepting nothing short of a top-four finish, adding “given the situation of how we’re seeded, it is highly likely that we can make the finals of the tournament. And in this tournament, getting into the finals of this tournament is anybody’s game.”

With Rugby, like many other sports in Guyana, not given the ‘okay’ by the local COVID-19 authorities to return to training, let-alone see any competitive action, Henry believes “this team has been thoroughly prepared in terms of fitness, but, match fitness is a totally different scenarios all together.’

“Like I’ve mentioned before, had we had the opportunity to play some better opposition, we would’ have been in a better position in terms of match fitness,” coach ‘Theo’ noted.

He added that “the fact that we’ve been doing this for quite a long time. This team has not experienced that as yet. I’m hopeful, that the fact that I’ve been there and experienced a lot of those hear-breaks, a lot of my teaching is going to rub off on them and we don’t have to start from zero.”

Henry thinks everything “depends on the mind-set that they (the players) enter this tournament with – if they’re going to go there and bring out that big game mentality, or they’re going to fold under pressure. We’re hoping that they bring out this big game mentality that people know Guyana is capable of doing.”

This year’s RAN tournament marks the return of international rugby to the Caribbean for the time since the COVID-19 global pandemic began in 2020 and also acts as a qualifier for next year’s World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series.