T&T's sevens rugby team continued its preparation for the Commonwealth Games with a series of warm-up matches at a camp in Strathallan boarding school, in Perth, Scotland.
The Calypso Warriors won two matches against Perthshire Rugby Club before sealing another pair of wins and one loss against Falkirk Rugby Club."These games were crucial as they offered us the opportunity to test our attacking and defensive structures," said national coach Larry Mendez. "We relished the opportunity to play unknown and skilful opposition, to test our own reaction and preparedness"."We are very grateful to the T&T Olympic Committee (TTOC) for having the foresight to organise such a camp," said team manager Curtis Nero. "It gave us the opportunity to not only acclimatise, but to train together and promote team bonding which is so vital in team sports".
The team entered the Games Village on 13 July where the programme continued, with modifications for peaking, particularly in gym work.Pre-competition games included a scrimmage session against Papua New Guinea last Thursday. "A scrimmage is a semi-controlled game in which we agree to go live on scrums and lineouts, but only smother tackle in open field," Mendez explained. "The controlled game is meant to minimise potential injury by reducing the incidence of contact".In the two matches played against Papua New Guinea, T&T won the first 10 points to 5 (no conversions taken), while the other was drawn 15-15.T&T had another scrimmage against Uganda on Saturday in miserable rainy weather. Uganda won the first in 15-5, but T&T stormed back to take the second 15-10.
Two scrimmages were played and lost against Canada, 15-10 and 15-5."I am really pleased with our defensive structures displayed in the game against Canada," said assistant coach Dale Trotman. "Despite the loss, there were some good points we can build on as well as things we need to fix. We need to press home our attacking advantages by reacting quicker after creating the gaps. Improved communication on the field will help.""We are pleased with the leadership and high quality of play being shown by captain Joseph Quashie and Jesse Richards' play so far has been tremendous and an inspiration to the team," said Nero." Individuals are beginning to step up now and we are seeing good team play. The challenge is to maintain that focus for the duration of the game. That is our challenge."