Pepsi Hornets male, female teams win inaugural Guinness 7s rugby tournament

The star-studded Pepsi Hornets squad triumphed in the inaugural Guinness Sevens tournament played Saturday in front of a fair-sized crowd under  floodlights at the National Park.

After a most entertaining evening of competitive Sevens rugby, the Hornets ruggers overcame an impressive Yamaha Caribs unit in the decider, 29-10 to lift the Guinness 7s champion’s trophy. 

Captain of the Pepsi Hornets female rugby team Tricia Monroe, receives the trophy for the winning team from president of the Guyana Rugby Football Union, Peter Green.
(Orlando Charles photo)

Made up of several past and present national players, the Hornets team played undefeated enroute to the final, making light work of the Police Falcons, the Demerara Panthers and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).

GDF secured third place in the men’s category when they defeated Falcons 19-0 in the consolation final.

Tournament MVP and Hornets’ elder statesman, Elwin Chase, turned back the clock with a hat-trick of tries and with support from Ronald Mayers (two tries), Ryan Hickson and Ryan Gonsalves (one conversion each) the blue, white and red clad outfit was able to emerge victors.

In the final, Hornets, with a brace of tries from Chase, scampered away with a 19-0 halftime advantage that was stretched to 24-0 early in the second period after the speedy Mayers needled the Caribs defence.

Ryan Gonsalves collects the winner’s trophy from Director of Sport, Christopher Jones as his
joyful teammates pose for a photo opportunity. (Orlando Charles photo)

O’Neil Charles then opened the scoring for Caribs but Chase promptly recorded another try running down the right wing to pad the score. Just before the final whistle, the relaxed Hornets defence allowed Vallon Adams to breach the try line to make the score more respectable.

Prior to the final, the female Hornets also won their match up against the Caribs team.

“Having Pepsi Hornets male and female teams win the first ever Guinness 7s day/night tournament is an honour for us,” said Captain Gonsalves post game.

“It was not easy but we took it one game at a time and we tried the play each game the right way. The guys played well today and we stuck to the coach’s game plan, kudos to the guys.”

President of the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU), Peter Green, Director of Sport, Christopher Jones along with Banks DIH’s Guinness Brand Manager, Lee Baptiste, all collectively sang the same tune congratulating the Hornets unit. The trio also opined that the fixture lived up to its billing and will be an annual affair.

Jones also encouraged other corporate entities to follow in the footsteps of the conglomerate which pumped in excess of $300,000 into the tournament. To loud cheers and applause, Jones then concluded by telling the gathering that the National Sports Commission (NSC) will be resurfacing and raising the playing area which will also be outfitted with permanent floodlights to illuminate the field.