SELWYN Henry scored a try and Ryan Gonsalves made good of the conversion, but that was all Guyana had to cheer about in their 86 – 7 drubbing, suffered at the hands of Paraguay, when the Americas Rugby Challenge continued yesterday in Medellín, Colombia.

Speaking to Chronicle Sport after the team went down for the second time in as many matches in Colombia, Gonsalves said the Guyanese defence was the common denominator that contributed to the lopsided result. “We were too scrappy on second and third phase when defending.These top sides are solid and very compact in both attack and defence. We really need to get ourselves out of this disappointing performance for the first two matches.

“The level here (In Colombia) is totally higher than what we’re accustomed to, but we are not far away, just need to clean up on the basic mistakes we continue to make in the last games which cost us, especially in our defence. In Paraguay, we had some more possessions but failed to execute and finish try-scoring opportunity when the opportunity present itself,” Gonsalves explained.

The scrum-half further noted “The team is very disappointed and will use the remaining days before our final game against Mexico on Sunday to clean up the errors that cost us and look for the win. This is a learning experience for the entire team playing 15’s rugby at this level; we can only build from this and adjust to it. Work to improve on our weaknesses and build on our strengths.”

The final round, on Sunday, September 4, will see Mexico clash with Guyana, and Colombia versus Paraguay as the closing match. The winners will be the team accruing the most tournament points.