By Floyd Christie
The national Rugby Sevens team will face a daunting challenge when they make their debut at the upcoming Rugby Sevens event at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India on October 11 and 12.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) together with the Commonwealth Games Federation has announced the pool draw for the Rugby Sevens event at the Commonwealth Games and Guyana is in “the toughest of the four pools”, according to President of the Guyana Rugby Football Union, Kit Nascimento.
In an interview with Stabroek Sport yesterday at the GRFU Office, Nascimento observed that because of Pool A’s composition which comprises Guyana, New Zealand, Scotland and Canada, the national team needs to be at the top of their game.
Defending Commonwealth Games Sevens Champions New Zealand are top seeds and head Pool A, where they will face opening matches against World Series regulars Scotland and Canada as well as Caribbean champions Guyana, who also competed at the World Series this season in Las Vegas.
New Zealand have won all three Rugby Sevens gold medals on offer so far at the Commonwealth Games – in 1998 (Kuala Lumpur), 2002 (Manchester) and 2006 (Melbourne).
With a rugby superpower such as New Zealand, who are also known as the ‘All Blacks’, heading their pool, Nascimento emphasized further why the pool is the toughest and related his expectations as the national team embarks on their Commonwealth Games endeavour.
Nascimento disclosed that it is expected that a major world class team will lead any one of the pools, but “it’s the rest of the composition of the pool that make Guyana’s pool a tough one, because we have Scotland and Canada.”
“If we were in any of the other pools we would have two or three games that we can certainly win, whereas in the pool we’re in, every single game is going to be challenging,” Nascimento stated.
As it relates to his expectations, Nascimento said that realistically, Guyana “should be playing for either a silver or bronze medal.”
“We’re not going to win gold… It would be nothing short of a miracle if we were to beat teams like New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa and England, who head all the pools, but it is very realistic for a Commonwealth Games bronze or even silver if we get into the right draw.”
Further Nascimento related that in order for Guyana to achieve that, the national team needs to emerge from their pool in second place. “That’s where we need to come out… that would guarantee us a chance at the silver, whereas if we come out in third place then we might get a bronze” if Guyana won all their games after that.
Nascimento also noted that there are a number of teams that Guyana are now “good enough to beat.” He highlighted two members of Guyana’s pool – Scotland and Canada.
He noted that though the national team lost against Scotland in last year’s IRB World Sevens Series in Las Vegas, they lost “by a competitive score” and scored twice against them.
Nascimento said that Guyana’s performance could’ve been even more competitive if a few of their players had not been injured.
In relation to Canada, Nascimento stated that Guyana had never played against them, but judging from their performance in the IRB World Seven Series, the national team should be able to defeat them.
“We have created a very exceptional team, a step above the rest of the Caribbean, including Mexico and we have proved that in CAC games,” Nascimento emphasized.
The other pools announced for the Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens are Pool B, which is headed by 2002 Commonwealth Games bronze medalists South Africa and they face three challenging opening ties against reigning Rugby World Cup Sevens champions Wales, Tonga and the host nation, India.
Reigning IRB Sevens World Series champions Samoa top Pool C and face matches on day one against ever-dangerous Kenya, the Cranes of Uganda and exciting Puk Puks of Papua New Guinea.
2006 silver medallists England head Pool D and face an exciting tie against Australia, who finished this year’s World Series in third place behind the Samoans and New Zealand. The two rugby superpowers will also face matches against the third African team in the draw, Namibia, as well as Sri Lanka.
