Selecting the 12 players for next month’s International Rugby Board Sevens tournament in Las Vegas, United States of America (USA) is turning out to be a headache for the selection panel of the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU).
So said former national player and current coach Laurie Adonis.
Adonis told Stabroek Sport yesterday that there were “more questions than answers in picking the team because the players are pushing each other.”
According to Adonis, the final selection will be made in a week or so.
He said after the team is selected, the GRFU will still require about 20 players for training purposes.
“Twelve players will be going to Las Vegas but we are going to need at least 20 players to work with,” he said.
Adonis, who assisted Technical Director, Joe Whipple, with last week-end’s camp said they were satisfied with the outcome.
“He (Whipple) was satisfied because we were training all the time and this week the guys really stepped up and were up to it. He was quite impressed with the game situations on Saturday,” Adonis related.
Adonis said some of the things the coaching staff worked on with the players were line outs, scrimmaging and defensive work.
“We worked on different things… things we needed some extra work on. It’s actually some of the same things we did before we went to Mexico,” he added.
Looking ahead to Las Vegas Adonis was concerned over what the temperature will be like.
He, however, said that the team was looking to arrive in Las Vegas a bit early in order to get acclimatised since the place was expected to be a bit cold.
“We are trying to see if we can get certain things in place. We are supposed to go a bit early to get ourselves acclimatized,” he said.
A couple of the players namely Kevin Mc Kenzie, Albert La Rose and Rupert Giles are overseas and will join the team in Las Vegas.
“Mc Kenzie has gone back to England. He came here from Mexico as the team was supposed to go to Uruguay at the end of December.
“However, that did not materialise and he had to fly out. He will reach us in Las Vegas.”
The players took a break yesterday but will resume training today working on the fitness programme stipulated by Whipple.
According to Adonis, Whipple is likely to make two more visits to assist with the training before the team departs for Las Vegas.
Adonis feels that training is right where it should be.
“We are on target for Las Vegas in terms of training. Over the last week or so the training was stepped up. Right now the fitness level of the players’ fitness is around 75 per cent. We hope to peak by the time the team is ready to leave,” he opined.
Of the actual competition Adonis is aware of the challenge ahead.
The Guyana team is in Group `A’ along with New Zealand, Australia and France all rugby powerhouses internationally.
“We have all the world powers. We’ll be hanging with some of the big dogs in New Zealand, Australia and France,” he declared.
Adonis explained that the Guyana team will play three matches on the first day with the top two teams going forward to contest the Cup and the other two teams contesting the Plate the next day.
“Two games the next day decide if you move forward in the Plate or Cup or if you get knocked out,” he said.
The Guyana team will obviously be hoping that in their case it will be the “Cup.”
