Guyana’s male, female ‘ruggers’ begin quest for regional supremacy today in Barbados
Guyana’s Rickford Cummings in action for Guyana against Barbados in last year’s RAN 7s Championship in Mexico.
Guyana’s Rickford Cummings in action for Guyana against Barbados in last year’s RAN 7s Championship in Mexico.

GUYANA’S male and female rugby teams will today kick off their quest for regional supremacy, when the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens Championship ‘scrums off’ in Barbados.

Fourteen men’s teams and 10 women’s teams, representing 15 different countries, will be in action with places up for grabs in next year’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series Qualifiers in Hong Kong and the Pan American Games in Lima.

Jamaica won last year’s men’s competition after a dramatic, last-gasp victory over the much-fancied Guyana in Mexico City, and in doing so became the first team from the Caribbean to qualify for Rugby World Cup Sevens, while tournament hosts Mexico were crowned women’s champions.

However, this time around, Guyana’s men’s team, led by captain Dwayne Schroder, are eager to redeem themselves in their attempt to win an unprecedented seventh title.

Prior to departure for the ‘Land of the Flying Fish’, head coach Sherlock Solomon, apart from Schroder, named Avery Corbin, Vallon Adams, Rickford Cummings, Richard Staglon, Ronald Mayers, Osei McKenzie, Lancelot Adonis, Jamal Angus, Claudius Butts, Peabo Hamilton and Patrick King in a squad, capable of bringing the title back to Guyana.

For Jamaica, the defending champions,  who, in recent times have risen to become Guyana’s nemeses, Mikel Facey, the youngest try-scorer at RWC Sevens 2018 in San Francisco, having only just turned 18 at the time, and Olympic sprinter Warren Weir both make the trip to Barbados as members of an exciting-looking Crocs squad, aiming to successfully defend their hard-earned RAN title.

With the increase to 14 teams, there are now four pools with the winners and runners-up progressing through to the Cup quarter-finals on Day Two. Jamaica find themselves in Pool A alongside the Dominican Republic and the British Virgin Islands, while beaten RAN 2017 finalists and six-time champions Guyana are joined in Pool B by Barbados and Curacao.

Last year’s hosts Mexico, silver medallists at the recent Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games, take on Bermuda, the Turks & Caicos and Guadeloupe in Pool C and Trinidad & Tobago, Cayman Islands, St Vincent & the Grenadines and St Lucia make up Pool D.

In an expanded women’s competition, the teams are split into two pools of five with title-holders Mexico joined by Guyana, Dominican Republic, Barbados and St. Lucia in Pool A. Jamaica’s Lady Crocs, Trinidad & Tobago, Bermuda, The Bahamas and Curacao contest Pool B.

Mexico’s women, the Serpientes, finished highest of all their RAN rivals at the CAC Games back in August, standing on the podium alongside champions Colombia and runners-up Venezuela as bronze medallists.

Meanwhile, RAN, as an added incentive for the teams to do well, announced that finishing positions in Barbados will determine seedings for the 2019 RAN Sevens, which doubles as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics qualification tournament.

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