ON the 22nd November, eighteen of the region’s best Rugby outfits will converge in Arima in Trinidad and Tobago at the Larry Gomes Stadium for three days to decide the next Rugby Americas North 7’s Champion.
Former national Guyana and West Indies player turned coach, Claudius Butts, said that speed has always been their strong point and they intend to exploit it this time around.
‘Over the years we have been producing some of the fastest players in the region, so that is one area we are going to be concentrating on as well, speed and actually defending under pressure in those critical moments, those two are our main strengths’
Butts says that the 7’s format is the surest way for Guyana to begin reclaiming their place at the pinnacle of the regional game.
Butts at the National Park preparing the National Team
‘For Guyana to get back on top of the regional rugby, the 7’s tournament, we have set up a 7’s training programme for the last several months; we had some of the under-19 boys, coming through this programme, getting the understanding of the technical and physical aspect of the 7’s game’
Butts says they continue to scout overseas Guyanese talent to help boost their programme and complement their local talent.
‘The current overseas players we have as part of the programme are Vallon Adams, Tyreese Prescott, Matthew Talbert and Geoffrey Polleydore; those are the four players that is going to be part of this 7’s tournament’
This year’s tournament will see teams divided into tier 1 and 2 brackets with the Champions from the Tier 1 qualifying for the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025.
The top two teams, excluding Canada which is pre-qualified from Tier 1 will qualify their side for the 2025 Junior Pan American Games’ 7’s competition.
While the Men’s Tier 2 Winner will be promoted into Tier 1 in 2025 in a promotion-relegation format.
This year also sees the return of the Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, and Turks & Caicos Islands.
Guyana in Teir 1 will battle the likes of Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, México and host Trinidad & Tobago.
While in tier 2 are Curaçao, Dominican Republic, St. Vincent & The Grenadines and Turks & Caicos Islands.
Last year’s USA Men and Canada Women booked their tickets to Paris as tournament champions.
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source link
