Uganda set to play in Oktoberfest 7s
Tough. Uganda’s Adrian Kasito is tackled by a Tonga player during the Hong Kong leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens series qualifiers early this year. The 7s team could be travelling to Germany soon. courtesy photo
KAMPALA. Uganda is close to realizing the dream of participating in the inaugural Oktoberfest 7s due Sept 29-30 in the Munich Olympic stadium, Germany.
With a week between the tournament and the Africa Rugby Sevens Championships, Uganda hope to use the event as a build-up for the continental showpiece in a bid to defend the title they won last year in Nairobi after beating Namibia 38-19 in the final.
The Rugby Cranes Sevens side which is already training under coach Tolbert Onyango is most likely to fly to Germany for the event after weeks of speculation since the Oktoberfest 7s was launched.
“It’s not yet confirmed but I can say the chances of Uganda participating are at 99%,” Uganda Rugby Union (URU) chairman Andrew Owor told Daily Monitor.
“It’s a few documents here and there we are still working on but in a couple of days we shall have a communication,” he added. In total, twelve nations will compete at the biggest rugby event in Germany, including top teams of the Sevens World Series like Fiji, South Africa, England, France and Ireland.
Cranes captain Eric Kasiita is optimistic the Munich tournament will help the side gear up for the Africa Championships because of the quality opposition. “The teams there are the best in the world and if we can mingle with them, the experience will give us plenty to learn before the Africa Cup kicks off,” he observed.
