Guyana’s senior national male ruggers, commonly called the Green Machine, have reached the quarter-finals of the Central American and Caribbean Games after winning two of their three group matches on Wednesday in Colombia.
They will now play Jamaica, whom they defeated in the 2010 final, in the quarter-finals today (Thursday) and should they be successful, they will be in contention for at least a bronze medal.
The Green Machine started off by defeating Costa Rica 22-7 after producing a flawless second half, scoring 10 points without an answer from the Costa Ricans.
Avery Corbin, Jamal Angus, Peabo Hamilton and skipper Dwayne Schroeder all scored tries. Schroeder missed a chance to convert, but Ronald Mayers did the opposite. For Costa Rica, their points came via a try from Byron Benavides and a conversion from Julan Ramirez.
However, their next match against Mexico, they were leading 5-0 after a try from Claudius Butts but Mayers did not make the conversion. The second-half was all about the Mexicans as they scored all their 14 points to seal the match.
Guyana had their chances to close out the match with winger Patrick King scoring a try but another missed conversion by Schroeder meant they suffered their first loss with the final scores reading 10-14.
Against the hosts in their final group match, they turned the screws in the second half to come out with a 14-12 victory. All of their points came in the second half via two tries from King and conversions from Godfrey Broomes.
