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Onyango warns against complacency
Rugby Cranes 7s have won three of the last four Africa Men's Sevens tournaments. PHOTO/COURTESY
What you need to know:
The Rugby Cranes Sevens produced a five-star performance last weekend to emerge winners of the first round played at the Labourdonnais Sports Club.
Uganda national men’s rugby sevens head coach Tolbert Onyango has warned his team against complacency as they gear up for the second leg of the 2024 Africa Men’s Sevens set for this weekend in Mauritius.
The Rugby Cranes Sevens produced a five-star performance last weekend to emerge winners of the first round played at the Labourdonnais Sports Club.
The fete earned the team 20 points and seed number one, an innovation under the newly revamped two-leg system.
The 2022 champions have been drawn in a similar group to last weekend’s, raising expectations for continued success or even better results.
In Group A, Uganda will do rematches with Burkina Faso, Tunisia and Ivory Coast, the latter of whom they faced twice in the pool stage and quarterfinals of the first leg. The 2022 champions beat Tunisia 43-0, Burkina Faso 29-0 and then Ivory Coast 22-17 and 15-10 in the two ties.
Despite their perfect run over their opponents in the first round, Onyango has emphasized the need for the team to maintain their peak performance this weekend.
“We’ve learnt that there are no easy games [and that] everyone is here to win,” the soft-spoken coach told Daily Monitor from the team’s base in Mauritius.
He briefly added: “ A slight loss of concentration and you are blown away, so we need to show up.”
The overall champion will be decided after aggregating points accumulated from the two legs. The Rugby Cranes Sevens lead the table with 20 points while Madagascar, South Africa and Burkina Faso follow with 18, 16 and 14 respectively.
The best two teams will qualify for the 2025 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series, a second-tier tournament that provides the qualification path to the succeeding edition of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series, the 2026 HSBC SVNS.
Last year’s finalists Kenya and South Africa are not in contention as they are core teams in the HSBC SVNS.
2024 Rugby Africa Men's Sevens
Second leg: July 6-7
Groups
Group A – Uganda, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Tunisia
Group B – Madagascar, Keya, Zambia, Algeria
Group C – South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Nigeria
Leaderboard
Uganda 20 points
Madagascar 18
South Africa 16
Burkina Faso 14
Zimbabwe 12
