The Rugby Africa Sevens Champions, Uganda will be hoping to repeat the Africa Seven’s Cup impressive performances when they take part in the Dubai Circuit this weekend.
Uganda in a shock result beat tournament favorites Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Namibia on route to win the Rugby African Sevens tournament in Nairobi.
These performances earned the Rugby Cranes an invitation to participate at the opening two tournaments of the 2016/17 World Rugby Sevens where they will be meeting the Rugby World’s elite.
While it looks like an impossible task for the young side, Ugandan Head Coach Tolbert Onyango is full of faith in his side and says they are beaming with confidence after beating top sides on their route to winning the Africa Sevens.
A confident Onyango said,
“It was a team effort. We fielded a younger squad that truly believed in themselves and once we beat Zimbabwe in our first game we knew it would be very hard to stop us. Our confidence grew with every game.
“The sky is the limit now. We are aware that we shall meet teams that have been in the series for over 10 years and that it’s a different ball game for the players, but they will give it their best shot.
“By playing these more experienced teams it will help us assess at what stage Uganda is at compared to the best in the world. It’s tournaments like these that will help us assess the gap.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“We truly believe that these experiences will propel us to become a better rugby-playing nation and a core side in a couple of years to come.”[/perfectpullquote]
Uganda who are making their first appearance on a Seven’s series in almost a decade were drawn alongside big dogs South Africa, USA and Scotland but that hasn’t dimmed their spirit. Onyango went on to say,
“Preparations have been good thus far and we are looking forward to putting up a good challenge in Dubai and Cape Town. This is the first time we shall be taking part in back-to-back top notch international tournaments so we shall be entering new territory.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“The team is eager and excited to be taking part in the two tournaments, meeting the top teams and star players whom they’ve been following for a couple of years now. There’s no better challenge than this in a sevens environment and we are raring to go.”[/perfectpullquote]
Their 22-year-old skipper Phillip Wokorach seemed unstoppable in the tournament and is definitely one to watch in the coming circuit. Onyango believes his young side are still growing and the future is still bright.
The Uganda Cranes and Namibia will then be playing at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series Qualifiers in Hong Kong later in March where the winner earns a core team status for the 2017/18 series.
Featured Photo: Uganda Cranes Players Cerebrating the Africa Rugby Sevens. (Image from FanZone)
