HARVARD Sports Rugby Club will be using their Harvard Club Seven’s Rugby Festival this weekend at St Mary’s ground, to prepare for the 2nd Carib Tobago International Seven’s Tournament set for the Bon Accord Recreation Ground on December 8 and 9.
Head coach Larry Mendez said like with the National Seven’s tournament, the club will be entering two teams. “The reason for this is that we want some competition. We want the players to compete for their places so we could have the best side to represent the club in Tobago. That tournament is an international tournament so we want our best in order to compete and win,” said Mendez.
Harvard won their festival last year and Mendez said they are aiming to retain the title as well as take the Tobago title. “We have our eyes set on winning the two remaining cups this season. The guys have been training very hard, they have worked very hard and continue to do so. The confidence is high and I think we will do well in the remaining two tournaments. We are definitely aiming to retain our title over the weekend and this would boost our confidence for Tobago. It is not going to be easy, but the Guys are prepared for the task at hand,” said the coach.
Mendez said a lot will be on the shoulders of captain and Guyanese international Cladius Butts especially in the remaining two tournaments. “This is his format, he is very good at this format. He has captained the West Indies and Guyana in this form and has a wealth of experience. He has been very instrumental in the club doing well this season and we look forward to his leadership for the remaining tournaments. He is the most discipline player and he leads from the front and he gets the support of all the other players,” said the coach.
On Saturday the Tragrete Road-based team retained the TTRFU National Seven’s Rugby Tournament with a one-sided 22-0 win over Caribs. This was the third major title the club has won after Taking the Marcus Minshall Knock-out and the Toyota Championship Division League titles.
The coach feels the team’s fitness and dedication shown by the players this season is the difference. “The guys are very fit. We have been training very hard this season.
Actually we have increased our training programmes. We have moved to four days of training and then we play on Saturdays which makes it five days of rugby a week which is all the dedication we could ask for. I don’t think any other team trains this hard and that is why we have done what we have done thus far this year.”
By Kevin Sunich
Source: www.newsday.co.tt
