Rugby Cranes relish long flight

The Uganda national rugby sevens teams for men and women are in for a bumper ride in the next five or so months.

The curtains for the domestic season are almost rolling down but the Lady and Rugby Cranes Sevens teams are just about to start booking their flights.

“We have a busy schedule but we had prepared for it early and that’s why we contracted the players for a full year because we knew that we’ll require them for almost the whole year,” Uganda Rugby Union’s chief executive officer Isaac Lutwama told Daily Monitor.

He added: “This is a combination of what the union, players and teams have put up to ensure that we get into a high-performance environment to play in the biggest tournaments and try to qualify for even bigger tournaments.”

First, the two teams are already preparing for the third and final round of the respective men’s and women’s World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger to be held in Munich, Germany and Krakow, Poland scheduled for May 18-19.

Lady Cranes will need to match at least their fourth-place finishes in Dubai and Montevideo which have accumulated 28 points for them.

The top four ranked nations from the three tours will qualify for the promotion and relegation play-off at the Grand final in Madrid at the end of May.

The top four from the Madrid circuit will qualify for the 2025 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.

The two teams who returned from the African Games in Ghana in April as champions need to apply the same energy to better their respective third-place finishes in the men’s and women’s Africa Sevens last year.

They’ll need to beat 11 others teams for the solitary remaining ticket to Paris in the Olympic Repechage set for June 21-23 in Monaco, France.

The men’s competition will be decided between Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Great Britain, Hong Kong China, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Spain, Tonga and Uganda.

It will be the same for the women who have to contend with Argentina, China, Czechia, Hong Kong China, Kenya, Jamaica, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Poland, Samoa and Czechia for one ticket to Paris.

But before that, the men’s team will be down in Mauritius to reclaim their African Sevens title from Kenya.

The Cranes settled for bronze in Zimbabwe last year after being dethroned by their neighbours.

The Ugandan ladies will climax their year when they return to Tunisia at the end of October for the 2024 Africa Women’s Sevens.

Besides the sevens, the highlight will be the much-awaited Rugby Africa Cup to be hosted for the first time in Uganda from July 18-29 at the newly-refurbished Namboole Stadium.

Uganda Rugby Schedules

Rugby & Lady Cranes 7s

May 17-18: World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series men (Munich) & women (Warsaw)

June 21-23: Olympic Repechage men & women, Monaco

June 27-July 8: Africa Men’s Sevens, Mauritius

October 24-November: Africa Women’s Sevens, Tunisia

October 11-13: Kenya Safari Sevens men and & women, Nairobi

May 17-18: World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series men (Munich) & women (Warsaw)

Rugby Cranes 15s

July 18-29: Rugby Africa Cup

NB. Dates for Elgon Cup & Tunisia test visit to Uganda for men and women are yet to be confirmed

World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series

Third leg – Munich, Germany

Men’s draw

Pool A: Uruguay, Germany, Georgia, Papua New Guinea

Pool B: Hong Kong China, Uganda, Tonga, Mexico

Pool C: Kenya, Chile, Portugal, Japan

Third leg – Warsaw, Poland

Women’s draw

Pool A: China, Thailand, Hong Kong China, Czechia

Pool B: Argentina, Uganda, Paraguay Papua New Guinea

Pool C: Belgium, Poland, Kenya, Mexico

2024 Olympic repechage tournament

Men’s draw

Pool A: South Africa, Chile, Tonga, Mexico

Pool B: Great Britain, Canada, Uganda, China

Pool C: Spain, Hong Kong China, Papua New Guinea, Brazil

Women’ draw

Pool A: Argentina, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Samoa

Pool B: Uganda, Paraguay, Hong Kong China, jamaica

Pool C: China, Poland, Czech Republic, Mexico

2024 Rugby Africa Cup

Teams: Uganda, Namibia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Algeria