-Ministry of Sport supporting in facelift of dressing rooms
It has been confirmed that Guyana’s national rugby team, the ‘Green Machine’ will play their Rugby Americas North (RAN) 15s return leg against Trinidad and Tobago on June 22 at the rugby field in the National Park, Thomas Lands.
President of the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) Ryan Dey made that confirmation to Stabroek Sport and revealed that much needed renovations to the dressing rooms located in the National Park have begun ahead of the return fixture.
Dey told this publication that the repairs and facelift to the dressing room are being done compliments of the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport, who came to the fore after being approached by the GRFU for support.
However, the rugby field in the National Park remains the sole facility for the sport in all of the 83,000 square miles of the country and is not ideal for the hosting of events of this magnitude.
Seating is minimal, the GRFU has lobbied for lights to be installed at the venue. To date, the latter has not been addressed.
Despite these adversities, the GRFU is pressing ahead to ensure that there is a successful hosting of the Trinidadians come match day.
After five years of inactivity in the 15s format, which is called a ‘test match’ the Green Machine engineered a stunning 24-23 come-back win in the first leg of their RAN 15s Championship match against Trinidad and Tobago at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Trinidad on April 28. The Guyanese ruggers managed to emerge victorious thanks to a hat-trick from tight-head prop Rondel McArthur and the heroic last minute tackle of USA-based Godfrey Pollydore to deny the Trinidadians a game-winning touchdown.
Providing that the ‘Green Machine’ is successful on home soil, Guyana will progress to the final of the RAN sub-zone where they will face the winner of Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Lucia.
The RAN Men’s Championship made a return after being inactive for almost five years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Green Machine’s 24-23 win over their T&T opposition was their first match in tests since they lost 19-5 at home to Guadeloupe in 2019.
Guyana was previously ranked 57th in the world and following their win, they managed to move up five places to 52nd while T&T slipped from 49th to 55th.
