Guyana’s National Rugby team, commonly called the “Green Machine” is ready to battle with their Jamaican counterparts when they clash on Saturday at the National Park Rugby Field as part Rugby Americas North (RAN) 15s’ Championship South Zone Division which is being played for qualification to the 2019 World Cup.
After inflicting a 48-17 spanking on Barbados last month, the well oiled Green machine is focused ahead of the crucial encounter.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday at the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) office in Kingston, captain of the team, Richard Staglon explained that the inclement weather has affected preparations but in no way will it undermine from their performance on Saturday.
“Preparation for this game has been hampered a bit but I think it is not major setback, the guys are still coming out, we getting the work done, yesterday [Wednesday] we did some work at the Campton ground which was very good,” Staglon explained.
The Jamaicans are a expecting to bring a physical game to Guyana and also try as much as possible to reduce the swift play of the Guyanese by capitalizing on the perceived small size of the National Park Rugby field, but Staglon responded by saying, “in no way will this be a problem.”
“We know the national park and to me it is a big pitch as I have played on smaller pitches but we still go out and get the job done as our
Mega clash! Hubert Thomas (left) and Richard Staglon
plan is supreme,” Staglon said.
When quizzed on whether there is any specific player on the Jamaican team, they are wary of, he said “collectively we trying to stop the whole team, our team strategy is never based on players, we have our players who have to do a job as with everything, so we really don’t have any specific plans, we play team wise.”
Captain of Jamaica Hubert Thomas believes that despite Guyana boasting some exceptional players they must find a way of containment.
“Once you have a trick player, you have to find a way to keep him some way out of the game but really as a team we have the entire 15 men to look out for but yet still you have a one or two players that could be outstanding; so you have to keep those players in a boundary at all times,” Thomas revealed.
With some of the more experienced players returning to the squad, the prospects for a Guyana victory are bright but a loss for Jamaican would effectively mean the end of their campaign, after loosing 38-14 to Trinidad and Tobago in their last match.
Scrum off is at 16:00h.
Guyana Squad: Jason Tyrell, Rondel Mcarthur, Rickrord Cummings, Kevon David, Jose Felicien, Dwayne Schroder, Jamal Angus, Richard Staglon (Captain) , Kion Kitt, Delroy Gordon, Fabian Joseph, Toby David, Ryan Gonsalves, Pebo Hamilton, Dane Parks, Lancelot Adonis, Triton Brathwaite, Avery Corbin, Ronald Mayers, Patrick King, Leon Greaves, Godfrey Brooms and Claudius Butts. Coach Larry Adonis
Jamaica Squad: Romaen Campbell, Omar Roachie, Jones Mab, Orien Smith, Dushane Alford, Crisdan Grayson, Nicholas Pusey, Tackeem Creary , Julius Reid, Errick Groves, Renhardo Richards , Antonio Baker Neville Lynch, Steve Miller, Andrew Hylton, Shamar Creary, Everton Richards, Andrew Simpson, Jermaine Daley, Owen Linton, Hubert Thomas (Capatin) , Kenneth Walker, Shaneal Brown and Stephen Scott. Coaches: Dr. Anthony Greenaway and Denzil Williams.
