Guerra selected as TT rugby captain

FELICIAN Guerra will captain a 23-man TT rugby team against Bermuda in the Rugby Americas North Men’s 15s Tournament at the St Anthony’s College Ground in Westmoorings, at 4 pm, tomorrow.

TT are playing in the championship division alongside Bermuda, USA South and Cayman Islands. Following the Bermuda contest, TT will be at home against USA South on June 16 before facing hosts Cayman Islands on June 23. The 23-man squad was announced on Wednesday night and includes 39-year-old Adam Frederick and Fiji-born player Sefanaia Waqa.

Waqa, who has been residing in TT for the past four years, is now eligible to play for this country. Waqa, now 22, moved to TT four years ago with his family after his father got a job as a lecturer at the University of TT. TT coach Kyle Wynyard explained that all of Waqa’s documents are organised and he can play.

“We were provided with legal advice that he meets the criteria and we were not going to select anybody who could not make the match day squad. He has been picked based on the fact that he is eligible to play for TT. We would not have picked him otherwise,” Wynyard said. Guerra, who has led TT in the past, will again be at the helm of the team. Wynyard said Guerra’s attitude led to him being selected to captain the team.

“Felician is a type of guy who will lead by example. He would get stuck in and do the hard work. He is also a very communicative guy, very upbeat, very positive so we think he is this year once again the right guy to lead the squad,” Wynyard said. Close to 40 players have been training leading up to the tournament, and Wynyard said it was a tough decision to select the squad. “(It was) very difficult (to select 23 players) because we had to leave out eight to nine guys who are competent players, so a difficult decision had to be made obviously. We believe we have chosen a squad that is strong enough to be ultra competitive this weekend,” Wynyard said. For tomorrow’s match, children under the age of 12 must pay $10 and adults pay $20.

TT SQUAD: Felician Guerra (captain), Trizine Mc Lean, Ernest Wright, Jamal Clark, Kirby Hosang, Wayne Kelly, Gordon Dalgliesh, Jesse Richards, Christopher Hudson, Sebastian Navarro, Anderson Joseph, Joseph Quashie, Dexter Snaggs, James Phillip, Leon Pantor, Anthony Rajkumar, Travis Carmichael, Mark Griffith, Shakeel Dyte, Adam Frederick, Jimmel Doyle, Sefanaia Waqa, Jamaal Stewart; Kyle Wynyard (coach), Ronald Annandsingh (manager).