The ‘Green Machine’, Guyana’s National Rugby 15s team, made a triumphant return to action, narrowly defeating Trinidad and Tobago in the first leg of their Rugby Americas (RAN) 15s match yesterday.
Playing in their first international 15s match since 2019, the Guyanese weathered a first half storm from Trinidad and Tobago at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, but rebounded spectacularly to clinch a 24-23 win with Godfrey Pollydore making a last ditch tackle to deny the hosts what would have been a game winning try.
In the first half, the Trinidadians had established a 13-0 lead with two trys and a penalty kick but just before the halftime break, Guyana clawed their way back with a try to go into the break at 13-5.
The second half saw a revitalised Guyanese effort as Kevin Braithwaithe and Pollydore made their presence felt on the field.
With the game evenly balanced at 19-18, Trinidad forged ahead 20 minutes from fulltime to put worry in the Guyanese camp at 23-19. However, with 10 minutes to go, Rondel McArthur bullied his way to the touchline for his second try of the game to put Guyana 24-23 ahead.
The Guyanese defence dug deep and managed to hold off the Trinidadians for those 10 minutes but with one minute to go, Trinidad’s fullback managed to evade the entire defence and was en route to a try after running the entire field but was brought down by Pollydore just 5 yards out to spark celebrations among the Guyanese.
Speaking to Stabroek Sport after the match, Guyana Rugby Football Federation (GRFU) President Ryan Dey commended the grit and determination of the ‘Green Machine’ in pulling off the narrow victory.
He pointed out that despite the team only having three days prior to yesterday’s match to train as a unit, they “did us proud and it’s only up from here”.
The second leg will see Guyana hosting Trinidad and Tobago on June 1.
