Green Machine’ coach Laurie Adonis insists he is not getting carried away just yet despite his team’s perfect start to the Rugby America’s North (RAN) 15s campaign.
The national team is one of the favourite teams to win this year’s title after starting their season with two emphatic wins including Saturday’s 23-5 triumph over Jamaica at the National Park.
Next up for the well-oiled ‘Green Machine’ is a tricky tour of Trinidad, where they will take on the Soca ruggers on June 19.
Adonis said that he was pleased with his team’s gritty four-tries-to-one win over the Reggae ruggers, but he knows there is still plenty of room for improvement.
“We’ve certainly had a good start to the competition, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to play well in your next game,” Adonis said.
“We still need to do some more work in the upcoming game against Trinidad on their turf because they beat us last year and we want to return that favour.
During Saturday’s post-game interview, Adonis said, “I think this game was good to give us a feel of where we are heading into the Trinidad game.
“I think this afternoon, the plays we were running really helped us and we came out with a victory that we are pleased with, but there is work to do,” he added.
Adonis gave his players the thumbs up and graded the victory with an ‘A’.
“It was a good win because Jamaica was a very formidable opponent, they scored first and they really applied a lot of pressure on us in the first 20 minutes but we were able to reassert ourselves in the last part of the half and after halftime.
“The challenge for us is to keep the mindset on the next game,” he declared.
After Steven Miller put Jamaica up 5-nil with a try, they were blanked during the remainder of the game. A penalty try by Ryan Gonsalves and tries by Lance Adonis, Ronald Mayers, Patrick King and Claudius Butts put paid to their efforts.
Once the national team continues its winning ways against Trinidad, they will play the winner of the Northern Zone for the overall RAN title and move onto other Qualifiers in a bid to clinch a berth in the 2019 World Cup. (Emmerson Campbell)
