The Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) yesterday called up 29 players to begin preparation for Guyana’s participation in the NAWIRA Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 Qualifying Tournament to take place in the Bahamas October 25 and 26.
Twelve teams, Guyana, Barbados, Bermuda, BVI, Jamaica, SVG, Cayman Island, Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, Canada and USA will contest the regional qualifiers. The two finalists will qualify for the World Cup which will take place in Dubai next year.
Guyana are the current Caribbean Sevens Champions, winning the championship for the past two years, and is expected to challenge Canada and USA to be amongst the two final teams to go forward to the World Cup.
Preparation for the World Cup Sevens has already begun to build momentum around the world with qualifiers having already taken place in Europe and South America and about to take place in Oceania.
Automatic qualifiers are Fiji, New Zealand, England, South Africa, Australia, France, Scotland, Argentina and, host Union, Arabian Gulf. Uruguay, Portugal, Wales, Georgia, Ireland and Italy have now qualified.
