The four rugby officials at the press conference, from left; Theodore Henry, Robin Roberts ‘Kit’ Nascimento and Mike McCormack
Following the recently-concluded Las Vegas Invitational Sevens tournament where the national rugby team was declared joint champions, the local ruggers will now shift their attention to the HSBC Sevens World Series in Hong Kong to be staged in March.
The team was declared joint champions of the Bowl round with the Denver Barbarians. Director of the sevens team, Mike McCormack at a press conference at the Olympic House, High Street, Kingston on Monday told the media that the team will be heading to the US Olympic center for a one week training stint with the USA rugby team ahead of the Hong Kong tournament.
The team will depart Guyana on March 11 before heading to Hong Kong on March 17.
McCormack said the team will not just represent the Golden Arrow Head at the Hong Kong tournament, but the entire North America and Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA).
The team’s Director noted that apart from the one week stint in the USA, the local ruggers have commenced an intensive training regimen, which includes training two times daily.
President of the Guyana Rugby Football Union, Christopher ‘Kit’ Nascimiento said the Hong Kong tournament is a huge challenge for Guyana, since the financial obligations have not yet been met. He, however, stated that another major sponsor will soon be on board.
The HSBC Sevens World Series (SWS) will be held in Hong Kong from March 23-25 and the International Rugby Board (IRB) has introduced a “transitional qualification process” to qualify three new teams from the six Rugby Regional Associations, namely Asia, Africa, South America, Europe, Oceania, North America and the Caribbean.
They will join the 12 core teams in the SWS plus one IRB invitational team to comprise a 16-team tournament, with the qualification tournament being introduced for the first time at this year’s Hong Kong HSBC Sevens World Series.
Guyana and Canada will represent the North America and Caribbean Rugby Association respectively, while the other participating teams in the Qualification Tournament are Hong Kong, Japan, China, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Russia, Zimbabwe, Uruguay, Tonga, Canada and Guyana.
The twelve Core Teams are Fiji, New Zealand, South Africa, England, France, Australia, Wales, Samoa, Argentina, USA, Scotland and Kenya.
Beginning with the 2013 Sevens World Series, a promotion and relegation process will be implemented each year providing the opportunity for new teams to qualify.
The Sevens World Series will now become one of the tournament pathways for qualification for the twelve team Rugby Sevens competition at the 2016 Olympics to take place in Brazil.
Guyana is, therefore, the first Caribbean country to qualify for the Hong Kong Sevens World Series qualification tournament with an opportunity to qualify as a future Core Team providing a pathway to the Olympic Games.
Las Vegas Invitational Sevens Tournament
After suffering two defeats on the opening day of the three-day tournament, the local ruggers recorded victories over Mexico, the Columbus Rugby Club and the Philippines on the second day of the tournament.
In their opening game against pool A foes, the Force XV Froggies, of France, the locals were narrowly beaten 19-12.
They then lost 29 to 12 against the other pool A team and eventually Cup winners the Social Vibe Pups, an English team.
The locals, however, rebounded and defeated Mexico the other pool A team, 19 to 14 and the Columbus Rugby Club and the Philippines. By virture of the two defeats the national team, however, which was seeded fourth among the 16 competing teams was knocked out of the Cup round.
However, they qualified for the final in the Bowl round by winning their quarterfinal and semi final games. The final was not played and both Guyana and the Denver Barbarians were named joint Bowl winners.
Nascimiento said all Guyana should be very pleased with the Las Vegas performance, since the elite Las Vegas Invitational Sevens tournament is the highest level of ‘American’ non international tournament.
The GRFU boss said that Guyana needs that level of competition ahead of the Hong Kong tournament.
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