NATIONAL Rugby head coach, Steven Lewis, said that his initial stint with the national ruggers which will conclude this coming week is to evaluate and set a foundation for the team’s effective preparation for the Rugby Americas North (RAN) 7’s campaign in November.

Coach Lewis told Guyana chronicle that he is here ‘To sort of put in the building blocks and foundation in preparation for RAN 7’s that is the purpose of this two weeks and the two weeks immediately prior to the tournament”

Lewis said that he was buoyed by the talent of the locals some of whom he had seen over the years working with other Caribbean territories and they were aiming for the next Olympics.
‘If you are looking at a three-year cycle with the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, so between now and then is it possible to qualify, it absolutely is. The Olympic qualification is regional, so we basically need to dominate the Caribbean, which means we have to beat Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica and that is all perfectly possible; the tricky part will be Canada and potentially the USA……. The first step upon this journey is winning this November that qualifies you for the challenger’s series which give you three international tournaments free of charge……to win in November is the short time goal, reaching the Olympics is the long-term goal’

He added that it is important to have an active eco-system with the rebirth of the female programme as well as the continued growth of the youth programme which will aid in building the sports and the men’s programme going from strength to strength.

Steven Lewis will take over from Claudius butts who led the men’s national teams
The regional 7’s competition is set for November 22-24 in Trinidad and Tobago
Lewis has hit the group running with a number of assistant coaches since arriving in Guyana last week working with the men’s team and the women’s team which will be making their re-entry to the regional after a number of years.