Uganda rugby sevens team, popularly known as Cranes will start their World Cup campaign against Samoa on July 20 in the pre-round of stage 16 of the tournament that kicks off this weekend in San Francisco, USA.
Rated as underdogs in the championship, Cranes who are currently ranked 18th in the world, will be playing the Manus who sit at position 10, in an innovative format where eight of the 16 in the pre-16 competition will be knocked out.
Speaking on Monday before start of their first training session, Cranes manager Tolbert Onyango said that he has high hopes that Uganda will go past Samoa because the boys have enough experience to win games, having picked some lessons from playing in two rounds of the World Rugby Sevens World Series.
“Playing in the Series opened our team to an awareness about the organizational set up within the core teams,” said Onyango in an interview with Kenyan based portal Sports News Arena.
“We have been able to adapt to the lessons learned from the core teams by picking and implementing what is beneficial. There has been great improvement.”
A win for Cranes will see them book a spot in the round of 16 where they will face England. Victory there will hoist them into the championship which will involve eight teams.
On the contrast, a loss to Samoa will see Uganda drop to the Bowl trophy while a defeat to England in the round of 16 sees Tolbert Onyango’s charges play the Challenge Trophy.
Cranes last face Samoa in December 2016 where they lost to The Manus 27-19 in the group stages and 29-5 in the knockout of the Bowl Cup.
Eight countries including South Africa, Fiji, New Zealand, Scotland, England, Argentina, USA and Australia got a bye to the round of 16.
Cranes will have to look out for Michael Wokorach who is one of the most experienced players in the team at the moment.
Uganda Sevens Squad:
Desire Ayera, Kisiga Timothy, Aaron Ofwoyrwoth, Ogena Pius, Oketayot Byron, Adrian Kasito, Okia Solomon, Odongo James, Michael Wokorach, Justin Kimono, Philip Wokorach and lvan Magomu make the 12-man squad to represent the country.
