By Rawle Toney

Guyana and West Indies rugby team members Claudius Butts and Albert La Rose said yesterday at a press conference that their team gave a very good account of themselves at the just-concluded Hong Kong Sevens World Series.

Butts and La Rose along with Kevin McKenzie were the only three Guyanese on the 12-man West Indies team that featured players from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas, Bermuda, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

According to Butts who is the West Indies sevens team captain, he was very impressed with the performance of the team at the championships and more so the camaraderie which was displayed among the players.

“I think we went out there and did what we had to do but the only thing we didn’t get a win. After our first game which was against Kenya, we became the crowd favourite and that helped us a lot in terms of our confidence against players who are professionals in the sport and some of the world’s best rugby nationals,” said Butts.

The Guyanese scored the first try of the tournament against the Kenyans which helped them to lead the game 5-0 at half time, but in the second half of the game the team did not continue their good run and lost 17-10.

In the second game which was played against the USA, the Windies went down 17-7 but it was in the match against Scotland which they lost 19-17 that the team really showed how good they were in the tournament.

Scotland, known as the birth place for Seven’s rugby, is one of the world’s best rugby nations and Butts once again played a true captain’s game scoring one of the tries with the others coming from Jamaican Luther Burrell and Trinidadian Kelson Fiargo.

But La Rose who failed to get on the score sheets for the West Indians was a hero in his own right since his defensive exploits saved the day on many plays for his side.

The player who is in his fourth year representing the combined West Indies team said that even though he is happy with his team’s performance, he was even more impressed with his personal improvement on the field.

“They say self-praise is no recommendation, but I think looking back at my game, I think I’ve improved tremendously on defence but I could have done a bit more on offence. If you look back at the team previously we have made plenty of improvement,” La Rose said. He also stated that if the squad could get a bit more backing from the West Indies Rugby Union (WIRU) and some businesses around the Caribbean, they can go further.

Another Guyanese who received honorable mention for his showing is England-based player Kevin McKenzie. According to the team captain, he has improved significantly and really gave a  lot in the tournament.

Meanwhile, head coach of the WI team, Joe Whipple said that as compared to their last Sevens tournament which was in San Diego last year, they have made vast improvement bringing up their tackle rate to 75 percent as compared to 35 percent and also offensively they were able to average two tries per game.

The team after competing in the tournament has received very good reviews from coaches of some of the world’s top rugby countries.

President of the WIRU Kit Nascimento thanked some of the Caribbean’s top companies who have all thrown their weight behind the West Indies team and among them is the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T).