The West Indies Rugby team and its five Guyanese players have concluded the International Rugby Board 2008 Sevens World Series in San Diego held from February 9th-10th with mixed emotions.
The West Indies entered the competition as the clear underdogs and were placed in pool B with powerhouse countries such as Fiji, Samoa and Australia. Sadly, the West Indies side did not manage to taste victory in any of their games during the tournament.
They were beaten by Samoa 33-5 in their first game which was played on February 9. West Indies narrowly trailed 5-7 at the half way point, thanks to a try from Trinidadian Bevon Armitage.
They refused to let Samoa out of their sights but as captain of the West Indies side, Claudius Butts recounted, “Samoa capitalized on every mistake that we made and used their experience to get them home down the stretch.”
In the second game things got worse and the Guyana side suffered a devastating 66-7 loss to Fiji. The only try scored for West Indies in that blowout was by Trinidadian Kelson Figaro.
That game incidentally was the highest scoring game of the tournament this year and Fiji also won by the greatest margin of victory.
In their third and final match of the day the West Indies squad faced defeat yet again, compliments of the highly ranked Australian side and fell 45-5.
During this match-up captain of the side and Guyanese Butts scored his team’s only try but sustained a knee injury and injury and was advised by the physiotherapist to sit out of the remaining two games against Chile and France.
Butts told Stabroek Sport yesterday that his injury was a big disappointment for himself and his team since he had entered the tournament with high expectations for the West Indies side.
“I set the standard high for the team and I was really disappointed although we managed to score in every game and even against some of the best sides in this version of the game. I hadn’t even noticed that I had suffered the injury to my knee until I was icing down and changing and then I realised that my knee was swollen.”
On the final day of competition for the West Indies side, they met France and Chile for the last of their unsuccessful encounters in the tournament.
They were defeated by France 36-5 while they narrowly fell to Chile 17-19.
Scrum-Half Albert who scored the lone try for the West Indies when they engaged France, recounted that the two final games that they played without the Sportsman of the Year runner-up Claudius Butts, as being very difficult for the team.
“Butts played all of the first three games with us and he was not only the captain but he was an important part in the starting seven.
“Although we had lost those games he had the confidence of pulling out two upsets against France and Chile the next day but we couldn’t really recover from losing Butts since he had such a significant role in the team,” he said.
In the game against Chile Guyanese Kevin McKenzie scored a try while Bevon Armitage scored the other two tries for the West Indies. Armitage who plays professional rugby in England also scored a total of three tries during the course of the tournament. As one of the least experienced teams on the international circuit, the West Indies rugby squad still have much to be proud of as they managed to score against seemingly impenetrable defences while other teams who have been on the circuit for much longer struggled to score.
Butts said that the final scores of the games that they lost were in no way a reflection of the team’s overall performance and as the team gains more exposure as a unit, they will learn to make the most of all their opportunities in such a fast paced form of the game.
