Current president of the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) Colonel John Lewis and former President Kit Nascimento lavished praise on the local team in interviews yesterday with Stabroek Sport.
Said Lewis “Guyana executed their game plan to the letter, the forwards were superior and the backs got their opportunities, in addition our fitness levels were superior, the training regimen that the guys went through under Barrington Browne was of high intensity and it paid off”.
Nascimento added ”I thought they played extremely well; our forwards outplayed their forwards in spite of giving up weight and height advantages, we were much more structured, focused and fitter that is why we were able to win most of the mauls and the rucks”.
Nascimento also lauded the support of Banks DIH Limited while criticising the actions of the Minister of Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony who failed to respond to an invitation to the stadium by the GRFU.
“We are extremely pleased for the support that Banks DIH Limited has given us for the past two years in the 15s competitions, we are thankful for their support and hopefully our partnership continues”.
Nascimento said he is extremely disappointed by the actions of Anthony.
“I find the actions of the Minister of Sport very disappointing, the Minister was invited to participate in the opening ceremony but there was no response, had it been a football or cricket game he would have been there, rugby has been by far the most successful team sport, we have accomplished more than any other team sport in the country, I am extremely disappointed by his actions”.
Attempts by Stabroek Sport to contact Anthony yesterday for comment failed.
Meanwhile, player/coach Theo Henry gave his perspective to Stabroek Sport on the win.
“Our fitness level was way better than Trinidad’s own but we still need to do a lot of work in that department” Henry stated.
The Jaguars mauled the Calypso Warriors in the Southern Zone final of the NACRA Regional Qualifiers for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The national team awaits the winner of the North Caribbean Zone between Bermuda and Cayman Islands. That game will kick off on June 9.
Henry pointed out that the team which played against Trinidad was much more balanced than the team that drew 10-10 against a weaker Barbados side two weeks ago.“The major difference between the Trinidad and the Barbados game is the fact that against Trinidad we had a more balanced team in the form of a more experienced three-quarter line as well as more experienced and young and dynamic players in the pack that complemented each other extremely well”.
Henry added “In the Barbados game the three-quarter line was relatively inexperienced and the decision making was very poor when it came to finishing off some brilliant plays by the forwards so that was the major difference”
The national coach also noted that the availability of Claudius Butts and the Trinidad and Tobago-based duo of Richard Staglon and Ronald Mayers enabled the local side to be locked in defensively as well and to score more tries, something the team failed to do two weeks ago in the Barbados game.
Henry also alluded to the fact that besides executing their game plans, the local ruggers’ fitness levels were superior to their Trinidadian counterparts.
Henry, who also praised the effort by Browne, revealed that in the weeks ahead the team will work to further improve their fitness as well as other areas of their game.
“We have a couple of weeks before we play in the final so we will be working on our fitness as well as reviewing tapes with the game against Trinidad. We will also focus on our strengths and weaknesses, try to build on the strengths and eliminate the weaknesses and just move forward and try to defeat whoever is in the final with us”.
In Saturday’s victory, tries were recorded by Henry (36th minute) and Butts (53rd minute) which were converted by Captain Ryan Gonsalves. The national rugby captain also made a successful penalty kick (78th minute), as did Ryan Hinckson (64th minute).
