By Emmerson Campbell
The tournament might be of a much higher standard than those often played in the Caribbean but skipper Ryan Gonsalves says that the National Sevens Rugby team was looking forward to the challenge.
The Guyana team departed yesterday morning for Las Vegas, United States of America where they will compete in the 16 team tournament which commences Thursday and ends Saturday.
“I can say that we are looking forward to participating in this tournament,” Gonsalves told Stabroek Sport in an exclusive interview yesterday.
“It will be a tough one for us almost all of the teams that we will be competing against competes at a higher level than the Caribbean, so it will be a huge challenge for us but we are confident that we will do well in this tournament and take it one game at a time,” he added.
The captain pointed out that although the team was forced to practice indoors for the past week because of the recent inclement weather, the team’s fitness and focus was still very high. “The weather had affected us a great deal because of the recent rainfall, so practice matches were not possible and we were forced to train indoors but the team spirit is high.
He added:”All the players are confident, we are focused and just looking forward to competing and we are going to give it our all. We will play the best rugby we can possibly play in Vegas.”
The team’s participation at the Las Vegas tournament has been made possible by the government with President Donald Ramotar handing over the sum of five million dollars to the Guyana Rugby Football Union.
The Las Vegas tournament will serves as a warm-up ahead of the team’s participation at the HSBC Sevens World Series in Hong Kong from March 23 to 25.
The local ruggers earned a place at the HSBC Sevens World Series after they won their sixth consecutive North America Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) title last November in Barbados by demolishing the Cayman Islands by 29 points to nil.
The national team, which is seeded fourth in the Invitational Tournament, will be seeking to come out on top against the 15 other teams.
The 16 teams competing in the tournament will be divided into four pools. Guyana will head Pool C which will include Mexico, Force XV Froggies (a French team) and Pups Rugby (an English team).
Pool A is headed by Spain and will include Bermuda, the Chicago Lions and Peru. Chile heads Pool B followed by the Philippine Pacific, Tiger Rugby and Alaska Golden Bears while Pool D is headed by Romania which includes Dog River Howlers (a Canadian team), Denver 7s and Columbus Rugby Club.
The team is Gonsalves, Elwin Chase (vice captain), Theodore Henry (player/coach), Claudius Butts, Valon Adams, Dwayne Schroeder, Rickford Cummings, Christopher Singh, UK-based Rupert Giles and the trio of Trinidad and Tobago-based players Ryan Hinckson, Richard Staglon and Ronald Mayers.
Henry, the head coach, will be assisted by Shane Grant-Stewart. The team will be managed by Robin Roberts with Barrington Browne, the team’s physiotherapist.
