Rugby Cranes 7s prep for deep end

Rugby Cranes 7s youngster Karim Arinaitwe makes a pass against Zimbabwe in the Africa Mens' final at Kyadondo in April. PHOTO/HASSAN OMAR

What you need to know:

  • Uganda go into both events with the fire in the belly but the Challenger Series remains priority because of the benefits achieving core status on the circuit comes with. 

It’s two weeks until the Rugby Cranes 7s take to the Coventry Stadium against Jamaica for their opening game in the Commonwealth Games. The competition will last a weekend before the side switches its attention to Chile for the World Challenger Series a week later.

“ We shall stay in the United Kingdom for a week before connecting to Chile,” Rugby Cranes 7s coach Tolbert Onyango told Monitor. It will be Onyango’s third trip to the Games as a coach with the first coming in 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland followed by the Gold Coast show in Australia in 2018.

On all two Occasions, Uganda has not made it out of the pool stages, it remains the barrier to break this time around in Birmingham. “ Our target is qualifying from the pool stages and see where we end up from there,” added Onyango. 

Uganda find themselves in a tough pool D with Australia, Kenya and Jamaica. It is a draw the Kenyans have prayed for with intent of avenging their 21-12 loss to Uganda in the Africa Mens’ 7s semifinal in April at Kyadondo. The result left Ugandans on cloud nine and Kenyans bitter.

In Chile , Uganda have been placed in pool C with Uruguay, Germany and Lithuania, making out of the pool will place Uganda in track to winning the competition against 11 other sides with HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2023 core status at stake. 

Onyango and his troops have on three occasions knocked on the core status door only to be left in the cold, however he remains optimistic that the Commonwealth Games will be the best preparation for the Challenger Series. As African champions, 

Uganda go into both events with the fire in the belly but the Challenger Series remains priority because of the benefits achieving core status on the circuit comes with. 

Commonwealth pools ( July 29 - 31 July)

Pool A: New Zealand, England, Samoa, Sri Lanka.

Pool B: South Africa, Scotland, Tonga, Malaysia.

Pool C: Fiji, Canada, Wales, Zambia.

Pool D: Australia, Kenya, Uganda, Jamaica

Chile on August 12-14

Pool A: Chile, Korea, Papua New Guinea, Georgia

Pool B: Hong Kong, Tonga, Jamaica, Zimbabwe

Pool C: Uruguay, Uganda, Germany, Lithuania      

Team: Michael Wokorach (captain), Philip Wokorach, Adrian Kasito, Aaron Ofoyrworth, Claude Otema, William Nkore, Kisiga Timothy, Nkore William, Desire Ayera, Ian Munyani(vice captain), Alex Aturinda, Nobert Okeny, Karim Arinaitwe, Isaac Massanganzira