By Noelle Smith
In the last game of the Bounty Farm XV’s before the national squad focuses on preparation for the North American and Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) 7s tournament, the Guyana Defence Force trounced Caribs 76-22 Saturday at the National Park.
The Caribs ended up being another team that just could not muster enough to stop the rampaging GDF whose players had no difficulty finding the try line as Patrick King, Avery Corbin and Darrin Henry scored multiple times.
Clyde Prowell, apart from having many successful conversions, also scored a try of his own.
Other tries came from Orin Williams and Breon Walks while Dwayne Schroeder had a successful conversion as the GDF ended with 43 first half points.
The experienced Theodore Henry, a former national captain and coach, was a virtual one-man army for the Caribs scoring 17 of the team’s 22 points.
The GDF’s power continued to be showcased and they kept the momentum going with Corbin, King, Henry recording tries and Prowell and Schroeder converting successfully.
Joseph Rahaman was also in the scoring mood for his team and he also made it across the try line.
After the match, team captain, Schroeder, expressed satisfaction with his team’s performance. “We started the tournament with the intention of winning and we did. The guys came out every game to play the best we could and that worked for us because no team was able to beat us,” Schroeder said.
The national team, better known as the Green Machine, is set to compete in the Rugby Americas North (RAN) 7s tournament in Mexico next month. The Green Machine will be aiming to perform in Mexico as it serves as a qualifier for tournaments in 2018. Training for this tournament has already commenced under head coach Laurence Adonis, and the Bounty Farm XVs will be put on hold to facilitate those who are called to train for selection.
King, among those selected for national training, told Stabroek Sports he knows the importance of the team playing in Mexico.
“Training has started, people are coming out and now that 15s is on pause we being to transition fully to 7s. The 7s in Mexico is a big competition for us because it is a qualifier for the Commonwealth Games and others so the team will try to do play to its full potential,” he said.
