The national men’s rugby team will return to the drawing board after last weekend’s forgettable Rugby American North (RAN) 7’s campaign in the Cayman Islands.
Affectionately called the ‘Green Machine’ the seven-time winners of the annual fixture failed to transform into robot mode, winning just one of six matches which ended their dream of clinching a berth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan next July.
Reflecting on arguably their toughest outing in RAN 7s history yesterday at the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) headquarters, the top brass of the union, some of its players and the management team pointed out several factors which led to their disappointing exit.
The lack of domestic competitions along with no top flight warm up tournaments and straying from the game plan were high on the list.
Technical Director of the team, Solomon Austin, said the unit was always playing catch-up rugby after just one domestic tournament all year.
This was coupled with a lot of players’ reluctance to practice and, a muddy, unfit playing surface at the National Park which forced the union and its players to scramble to rent the GFC ground for practice sessions.
The team’s exit raises more questions than answers as the unit has taken several steps backward, going from champs in 2016 to dropping the ball and finishing sixth of eight teams three years later.
The ‘Green Machine’ will do what they always do, lick their wounds and think of how to get better as the Pan American Games in Peru looms later this month.
President Peter Green said that the tournament in the Cayman Islands essentially served as pretty much a warm-up for Peru since there is no money in the kitty to travel and compete in top flight tournaments but frankly speaking he said that he does not expect much to change in terms of the win column.
Yesterday, captain Jamal Angus and player/coach, Claudius Butts reflected as they try to recover, both physically and mentally from a tournament which they admitted was one of the worst they have ever played.
Both Butts and Angus stated that the team for some reason strayed from the game plan in the Cayman Islands which proved costly.
The duo said that their charges are a resilient bunch and will look to ‘bounce back’ starting in Peru with better performances since they will be bolstered by four seasoned overseas-based players.
Note: For the men’s competition, this year’s RAN 7s tournament served as a regional qualification event for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad Tokyo 2020 to take place July 24 through August 9, 2020, in Tokyo, Japan.
Canada won the championship after defeating last year’s winner Jamaica, 40-5.
Mexico repeated as female champions after downing Jamaica 19-15. (Emmerson Campbell)
