By Calvin Roberts
A tough year awaits the Guyana Football Rugby Union (GFRU) whose staging of the Caribbean Women’s 15-a-side tournament in May is the showpiece event of what is a packed schedule.
Speaking to the media at a press briefing held at the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) building on Church and Peter Rose Streets Queenstown on Friday, president of the GRFU, Noel Adonis, stated that his executives would work overtime to ensure all the listed events would be executed promptly and efficiently.
“The International Rugby Board (IRB) has begun its qualification process for the 2011 World Cup which will be hosted by New Zealand, and our qualifying round takes place in the Cayman Islands from April 19-26 and Guyana, being a part of the Americas Zone, will be contesting for a place against seven other teams including Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, Bahamas, Mexico,/ St Vincent and the Grenadines and host Cayman Islands,” Adonis disclosed.
Guyana is ranked fourth in the Americas and will play its first game in the tournament which is being played on a knockout basis against number-one ranked Jamaica on April 20.
The winner of this qualifying round will contest the Confederation of South American Rugby Union (CONSAR) group B stage against Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Venezuela.
“Our teams both the Sevens and Fifteens have been doing well in recent times and there is no way we cannot qualify for the next round. They will be going with the intention of qualifying for that round where the level of rugby is competitive and similar to that of the Caribbean.
“We have been in training six days a week from January and the guys are ready and raring to go to put Guyana on the map in the game of rugby,” Adonis added.
“Guyana is currently the Sevens champion in the Caribbean having played unbeaten in 2006 and 2007. The qualifying round for the Rugby Sevens World Cup will take place in October in The Bahamas and here again, Guyana has an excellent chance of qualifying for another World Cup. We do believe that in rugby we have been doing Guyana proud and our performance on the field is speaking for itself,” Adonis continued.
President of the West Indies Rugby Union (WIRU) and Marketing Consultant of the GRFU, Christopher ‘Kit’ Nascimento in brief remarks congratulated the GRFU on its early preparation for the tournament.
“I must say congrats to you for the step you took with your early preparations for the qualifiers which is only 15 days away.
“To my mind, the IRB has made the qualifying rounds good for us herein the West Indies, with its rearrangements having have such being played on a knockout basis compared to last year where they had a North (Bahamas hosted) and South (Guyana hosted) zones,” Nascimento added.
”Guyana has an excellent chance of qualifying for the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand and I want to join with the GRFU president in urging corporate Guyana to come on board as if ever a team from Guyana is to make it to the World Cup in any sporting discipline, it will be our rugby 15’s team,” the former national rugby player said.
It was disclosed that the Caribbean Women’s 15 a-side tournament would be held in May with four teams participating.
Apart from Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands have confirmed their participation in this competition which will run from May 5-10.
All the matches will be played at the National Park.
Guyana placed second to Jamaica in the 2006 women’s championships which automatically gives them the number two seeding for the competition and according to coach Alton Agard, preparation for this tournament has been upbeat over the past 16 weeks.
“We had nine weeks of training, four weeks of gym work and three weeks of individual skills.
“We are presently fine-tuning our preparations for this prestigious Women’s competition with some field work and team tactics so, come next month, we will be raring to go just like our male counterparts.”
Apart from its local competitions which had to be placed on the back burners, the GRFU also has its eyes on the North Americas and West Indies Rugby Association (NAWIRA) Under-19 tournament which is slated for Barbados in July.
