Kalema Lawrence
Uganda’s Rugby sevens National team, Uganda Rugby Cranes emerged as the giants of the Africa Rugby 7s tournament on Saturday 7th October 2017 at Legends Sports Grounds to be crowned the champions.
Uganda’s late try from Adrian Kasito brought back Uganda’s hopes of the trophy against the then leading Zimbabwean Cheetahs, as it dragged Uganda from behind to end the anticipated game 10-7 amidst loud cheers, jubilation and excitement from the crowd.
Uganda’s Lawrence Ssebuliba should have been the star of the show but Shingai Hlanguyo saved Zimbabwe early tears with a successful tackle that pushed the former off the line in the right flank as the sprinting Ugandan had been offloaded to by
Micheal Wokorach after swift exchanges in the middle.
This means that the Unbeaten Rugby Cranes successfully defended the Africa sevens crown, after claiming the same after defeating Namibia last year by 38-19 in the cup final at the Moi Kasarani Safaricom Stadium.
Scooping this trophy also means that the muscular six-packed boys also qualified for the Rugby Sevens World Cup together with the runners up Zimbabwe, that is set to take place in San Francisco, California next year.
At the end, the 2017 Rugby Africa 7s final rankings stood as follows:
1. Uganda
2. Zimbabwe
3. Madagascar
4. Zambia
5. Tunisia
6. Senegal
7. Morocco
8. Botswana
9. Ghana
10. Mauritius
