CAC 7s Rugby tournament …
GUYANA and Trinidad and Tobago ended day one of the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Sevens Rugby tournament being played at the Guyana National Stadium undefeated and have both been seeded as number one in their respected group. They head into today’s championship stage booming with confidence.
But of the two teams , it was the hosts who showed why they are the Caribbean’s best Sevens rugby nation by recording three contrasting victories. While Trinidad and Tobago did not lose a game, they were still able to be held to a draw by Jamaica which left many of the teams even hungrier to put the lights out on Guyana.
As a matter of fact, Bahamas were the only team to score against Guyana, but the Bahamians still lost 21-7.
It was the third game of the day and Bahamas raced to a 7-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game leaving the crowd to wonder if the same Guyana team, who won four consecutive Caribbean titles, were playing. But Guyana bounced back with UK-based player Kevin McKenzie leading the team’s charge.
McKenzie scored two of his three tries on the day in his side’s opening game to put the spectators’ minds at ease and the rest as the saying goes is history.
The Cayman Islands felt the heat of Guyana’s firepower after the locals began to feel more at home and went on to crush the visitors 38–0. By then all eyes were riveted on the Guyanese players and the spectators were fascinated by the brilliant display by the Guyanese men.
However, the Guyanese saved the best performance for last and Dane Parks stole the show as the former national junior sprinter used his sensational speed to evade defenders as he spearheaded his side’s 54–0 win over Costa Rica which was the biggest margin of victory for any team yesterday.
The 21-year-old Parks reached the end zone three times in the said game to be in the bracket of the day’s top performers.
Apart from McKenzie and Parks, team captain Claudius Butts was his usual self in scoring three tries while Ronald Mayers and Dominic Lespierre both ended the day with two tries each.
Richard Staglon, Rupert Giles, Christopher Singh and Dwayne Schroeder were other Guyana team members who scored one try each.
Theodore Henry who was like a brick wall on defence, was just as good with his kicks, being the team’s leading scorer of conversions with seven while Ryan Gonsalves scored three and Schroeder had two.
The Soca Ruggers, like Guyana, enjoyed a wonderful start to their campaign for history with a 20–7 win over Venezuela and further handed Mexico their only defeat on the day when they whipped them 14–0.
Mexico, nonetheless, scraped past Jamaica 7-5 and drew 10–10 with fellow Spanish-speaking country Venezuela.
Costa Rica, the Cayman Islands and Venezuela were the only three of the eight participating teams who failed to cop a win while the Bahamians’ only defeat on the day was to the Guyanese after which they downed Costa Rica 24–12 and Cayman Islands 17–7.
Meanwhile, for today Guyana are seeded as number one in Group A followed by Bahamas, Cayman Islands and Costa Rica while in Group B Trinidad and Tobago head Mexico, Jamaica and Venezuela.
The first match for today will pit Guyana against Venezuela from 10:30 h and then the Cayman Islands will face Mexico; Jamaica take on Bahamas and Trinidad & Tobago will face Costa Rica.