By Emmerson Campbell
After roaring to a 20-nil victory against the Trinidad and Tobago Calypso Warriors two weeks ago in the Southern Zone of the NACRA Regional Qualifiers for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the Guyana Jaguars have now turned their attention to Bermuda.
Bermuda will play Guyana in the North American Rugby Championship final on Saturday at 16:00hrs in Bermuda after they defeated Bahamas 16-8 last week in the Bahamas.
During an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport yesterday at the Providence National Stadium where the national 15s team was practicing, Captain Ryan Gonsalves gave his views on playing the Bermudans, his team fitness and aspects of the game his charges are currently working on.
Gonsalves pointed out that Guyana lost to Bermuda last year in the final at home and to be victorious in Bermuda the locals must be at their best which he ensured they will be.
Said Gonsalves “In terms of playing Bermuda in Bermuda quite frankly it would not be easy because of course we will be in a hostile environment and there is no better place than playing at home as looking back two weeks ago when we played Trinidad so we have our work cut out.”
He continued:“Bermuda is a team that is technically correct team, they beat us last year and definitely we are not going to Bermuda for the same result, we are focused, we have been doing a lot of video analysis on the Bermudan team that we played last year and we saw some things that we can use to our advantage as well as things that we can improve on.”
The rugby captain said that once the team plays to its strong points and limits its errors the team will be the victors.
“Once we play to our strengths and we limit our errors definitely we will come out victorious and we are very anxious and motivated going to Bermuda because we want to make them feel the same way when they defeated us at home last year,” Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves who led the Sevens rugby team to their sixth consecutive NACRA title last year in Barbados said that the 15s team and the coaching staff is currently working feverishly to improve every aspect of the team’s game.
“We’re just working in all areas to get ourselves prepared, we are working on every area of the rugby pitch, but we are working extra hard with the forwards because we would be coming up against bigger guys against Bermuda than the guys from Trinidad so we will have to out smart Bermuda because they play a slow game which we are aware of, basically they are very strong in their line out so we are working in areas to compete with that”.
The national captain stated that the Jaguars are ready to maul the Bermudans and return home with the hardware. Gonsalves also boasted that the local ruggers who displayed superior fitness against the Trinidadians will be in better shape against the Bermudans.
“The guys are very confident ahead of the Bermuda game, we have been in intense practice sessions for the past two weeks despite the weather not being on our side but we made good uses of what ever we had, like I said we have been doing a lot of video analysis and black board and fitness sessions, the team will definitely be a fitter team that played Trinidad so I can guarantee Bermuda will be coming up against a fit and a technical Guyanese team ,I think we are better than Bermuda so its just about us playing good positive rugby this Saturday” said Gonsalves.
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