Emotional Rugby Cranes win WC Bowl

Uganda fans who made the trip to South Africa could not hide their joy . PHOTO/COURTESY 

What you need to know:

The resilience of this team was defined by Michael Wokorach whose try was an act more familiar with steeplechase as he went over tackles to score.

Result - Bowl Final

Uganda 19-12 Germany

Nothing matches emotion in sport. You could see it, feel and almost touch it as the national team laid it all bare as their 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens journey wrapped up.
Yesterday, on a chilly morning in Cape Town, South Africa, the Rugby Cranes 7s beat Germany 19-12 to lift the Bowl, the third tier competition at the quadrennial global showpiece.
 While the Bowl that captain Michael Wokorach received on behalf of the team was important, a first victory over Germany in six attempts meant as much.
 Tries from Philip Wokorach, Michael Wokoarach and vice captain Ian Munyani proved the difference in a game of fine margins. 
This ensured that Uganda finished 17th at this event, two places higher than they managed on debut in San Francisco, USA four years ago.  
"Absolutely, it was emotional. We had a debt with Germany," Michael Wokorach, drenched in sweat, said in a post-match interview.
Desire Ayera, the team's primary ball carrier who has played with a knee strapping following a recent injuury re-echoed it. "That was emotional," Ayera noted.  

Everyone around the team was screaming, right from coach Tolbert Onyango whose face was of a man who had just been rescued from captivity to youngster Karim Arinaitwe.

The resilience of this team was defined by Michael Wokorach whose try was an act more familiar with steeplechase as he went over tackles to score.

Munyani was down to him taking as much contact as he could before the offload. However, this team does not know how to do things the easy way.
With victory within their grasp, Timothy Kisiga opted to play on rather than kick the ball out of play. German forced a turnover and had a chance to tie the game with the last play.
A knock-on by the Germans ensured that part of the identical 17-14 losses at the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in Chile last month were erased, partly,

"It was a huge mental block. It's been a third time we are playing them in two months. Third time's a charm. What better stage to do it than at the World Cup," Ayera said.
Aaron Ofoywroth, one of the team's two playmakers, the other being Adrian Kasito, found room to be cocky.  
"Thank God for this great win. It wasn't that difficult but we fought hard to make sure it ends in a good way," Ofoywroth explained. 


This year, the Rugby Cranes 7s won the Africa Cup 7s, played at the Commonwealth Games and the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series before coming to Cape Town. 


There is more to come as Uganda has been invited to the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series legs in Dubai and Cape Town in December. 


That will require Onyango to expand his player pool further as the strain of this three-day tournament showed the need for a bigger bench.