Not so bad: Team Uganda settles for fifth out of Twelve at the Safari Sevens Rugby Cup in Nairobi

By Daniels N. Tatya

Uganda had had a brilliant performance on the opening day of the Safari Sevens on Saturday with an unbeaten run in Pool C. They (Uganda Men’s Sevens) capped it off with a 5th-place playoff final victory against Zimbabwe on day two.

The Safari Sevens were played at Nyayo National Stadium from October 30-31 with Uganda Men’s Sevens celebrating a 5th-place finish at Safari Sevens. Captained by Ian Munyani, the team lost contention for the Main Cup trophy after a 19-12 quarterfinal loss against archrivals Kenya Shujaa halting the cup dream.

This relegated Munyani’s led team to the 5/6th place playoff semifinal where they faced Samurai who had had a rather mediocre weekend. They were able to hold off a comeback from the world class talent-laden international outfit to win 17-14 in the tense semifinal.

Aaron Ofoywroth was on top form in the final against Zimbabwe as the Uganda Men signed out in style after an impressive trip to the Nairobi. His brace of tries, and then some more from Kelvin Balagadde, Adrian Kasito and Timothy Kisiga delivered the 29-12 victory.

With such performance, Uganda have suggestively improved from their last outing at the Safari Sevens in 2019 when they lost the Challenge Trophy final. The team that was only assembled with one week to go for the event won five out of six matches played over two days against opposition that included two HSBC Sevens Series core nations and the defending champions.

Up next, with a busy 2022 calendar that includes Commonwealth Games, Rugby Africa Cup and Rugby World Cup Sevens coming up, the performance is a good starting point for the campaign.