The Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) and its coaching staff will be relying heavily on a large group of young players to help carry the team’s load this season and in the foreseeable future.
This was evident on Saturday during a 15s trial match at the National Park where mostly young and inexperienced players were being watched on sidelines by national coach, Laurie Adonis.
Adonis told this publication that several of the players on the field on Saturday were fresh to the sport and many growing challenges lie ahead.
However, the players are hungry to establish themselves as fixtures on the team, hence, the trial matches and training sessions ahead of the international season have been highly competitive.
The national 15 men’s rugby team is currently in preparatory mode ahead of their away RAN 15’s matchup versus Barbados tentatively set for April 25.
“Right now we are working on a lot of technical stuff,” said Adonis who noted that his players have the passion and will to win but lack technical soundness currently to defeat top flight opposition.
“It’s a young team and some of the mistakes are understandable. The mauls were non-existent but we are working a lot on the mauls, scrums and line outs. We are also giving up too much space on the field, these are some technical areas we are working to get better at.”
Despite the political unrest, it was commendable to see the potential national players come out to play the game they love with international fixtures looming.
Note: Guyana will also commence its 2023 World XV International qualifier matches with a home game against arch rivals Trinidad and Tobago later this month or early April in the Southern Zone.
This would be followed by an away game in late April or early May. The Northern Zone is slated to commence this month. Winner of the Southern Zone will play the winner of the Northern Zone for the right to advance further. The USA, Canada and Mexico continue to be the juggernauts of North American Rugby.
