President of the West Indies and Guyana rugby unions Kit Nascimento and Noel Adonis yesterday lauded the Guyana national rugby team on its unique achievement of winning back-to-back North American and West Indian Rugby Association (NAWIRA) Sevens titles.

The Guyana national Sevens rugby team defeated arch rivals Jamaica 7-5 on Sunday in the final of the tournament held at the Winton Rugby Pitch, Nassau, The Bahamas.

“The team performed magnificently. I believe the Guyana national team is now a step above the rest of the teams in the Caribbean along with Jamaica,” Nascimento said yesterday.

“All of Guyana should be exceedingly proud of their achievements. I would like to emphasize that this was a full international tournament that included the 10 national rugby teams of the West Indies, the national team of Mexico and the southern USA team,” he added.

The Guyana team played unbeaten throughout the two-day tournament and Nascimento attributes fitness as one of the reasons for the victory.

“The final was very tough and very close. The superb fitness of the Guyana team made the difference,” he said.

Adonis, meanwhile, stressed the importance of the team’s back-to-back titles triumph.

“It is important to know that this was a repeat performance in terms of the team’s success at this level. To a large measure it is an indication of the team’s growing maturity more so since Kevin Mc Kenzie a top player was absent.”

Mc Kenzie is currently trying out with one of the rugby clubs in Ireland.

In Mc Kenzie’s absence a number of young players played the supporting role to the senior players admirably.

“A number of players from the GRFU’s Youth Development Programme stepped up,” Adonis declared pointing out one such player, Dane Parks, was rewarded with a call-up to the West Indies Rugby Union’s 21-player shortlist.

“The team members are all very, very pleased. I think the team played well throughout the tournament. They were seen from the inception as the team to beat and only the score in the final was close, the GRFU president said.

Adonis also said that he was extremely happy that the Guyana Diaspora in The Bahamas really turned out and supported the team.