The national women’s rugby team will wing out today for Barbados on their quest to secure their fourth consecutive North America Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) Sevens title.
The tournament which will be held this weekend will attract more teams than ever and the local ladies will face much stiffer opposition than previously.
Despite the strength of the opposition, captain Sabola Gray and assistant coach Alwin Etwah exuded confidence that the local ruggers will successfully defend their title.
Etwah emphasized that the players are fit and fully focused at the moment and the team is just working on eliminating their technical flaws.
“Right now we are working on fine tuning the technical aspects of the game, our fitness level is on point and is no excuse as we have been preparing for the past three months, basically we just need to improve on our ball handling skills and our catching.”
“I expect them to come back home with their fourth title and follow in the men’s footsteps in terms of Caribbean championships. We have been training hard and we expect nothing but the title,” said Etwah.
Those sentiments were also echoed by Gray who said she is delighted to lead her team for the fourth time and promised to carry out her duties as the leader.
“We are very fit – I have a lot of confidence in my team as we have been training hard, we did a lot of preparation and hard work leading up to this tournament because it will be much more competitive than the ones before as there will be more teams so our fitness will be a factor in defending our title.”
“We were working with Barry (fitness trainer Barrington Browne of Michael Parris Gym) on our strength condition, running drills and sprinting so we are fully prepared.”
Gray stated that minor adjustments in their defending and communication need to be addressed but on the day of competition they know how to produce because of the experience of the team.
“Our team is very experienced when it comes to playing in the NACRA Sevens because only two of the players have not gone to NACRA before. At the moment we are working on some minor weaknesses but it’s nothing to worry about, we will get the job done.”
The women’s captain also spoke about her team’s spirit.
“Our coach (Alton Agard) is back in town and the vibe is back. We feel a lot better training with him, he brings a lot of excitement and energy to the team, we feel much better working with him, our team spirit is very high right now, we are very confident.”
The three-time NACRA champions will be defending their championship against 10 other teams. The number one seeded locals will face opposition from St Lucia, Mexico, USA, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Canada, Cayman Islands, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Guadeloupe.
Group A will consist of Guyana, St Lucia, Mexico, USA and Barbados, while Group B will consist of Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Canada, Cayman Islands, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Guadeloupe
The squad reads: Sabola Gray (captain), Collette Hope, Andrea Lashley, Tricia Munroe, Nikita Davis, Grace Jarvis, Desean Josiah, Fiona Ward, Karen Skeete, Sabana Daniels, Shanell Daniels, and Princessa Wilkey.
