Rugby Cranes score five tries to remain in top tier
KAMPALA- Rugby Cranes achieved the bare minimum of retaining Africa Cup 1A status for at least one more season with a memorable 34-27 victory in Zimbabwe on Saturday.
Tries from eighth man Marvin Odongo, prop Asuman Mugerwa, fullback Philip Wokorach, centre Oscar Kalyango and wing Lawrence Ssebuliba delivered the desired result.
Wokorach added two conversions and two penalties to lift Uganda to second on the four-team log with six points, four behind leaders Namibia with one round to play.
“The target was always to avoid relegation. Now, we have done that and should build on it,” vice-captain Michael Wokorach told Daily Monitor upon the team’s return yesterday.
Kenya, Uganda’s final opponents this Saturday, are third with five points while Zimbabwe, now on one, are almost certain to play in 1B next year. The latter’s slim chance to retain 1A status is to beat five-time Rugby World Cup finalists Namibia away in Windhoek and hope that Uganda rout Kenya in Nairobi.
Conventional wisdom dictates that neither will happen as the Sables, reportedly in crisis, have lost their two home games, including a 65-16 walloping by Kenya last month.
That hardly matters to coach John Duncan’s Uganda now as they made good of last year’s promotion from 1B by keeping their place in the top tier. Previously, Uganda was famed for being too classy for 1B and too feeble for 1A.
It’s a satisfying turnaround for the players, some of whom were part of the team that was relegated from 1A in 2013 on the back of a dismal display in Madagascar.
Thereafter, Uganda was meant to slide from 1B to 1C after a tournament in Tunisia the following year only for the continental rugby body to expand the second tier from four to six teams.
Among those who have lived through the cyclic phase are captain Brian Odongo and his vice Michael Wokorach who now feel like the veterans in the side having been there since 2009.
Winning in the cold of Harare will feel like a springboard for Rugby Cranes to challenge for the African title Uganda last won in 2007.
Saturday result
Zimbabwe 27-34 Uganda
PLAYING SATURDAY
Kenya vs Uganda
