Over the weekend, the national men’s teams in the 7s and 15s disciplines were on the pitch for different games and there were wins registered for both. So, what did we learn from the Cranes as a whole?
1. Best foot forward in Mauritius
Coach Tolbert Onyango’s team, the Rugby Cranes 7s were crowned champions of the first leg of the 2024 Africa 7s in Mauritius and put themselves head and shoulders above the rest on the road to winning this year’s title.
Both days one and two started in cagey affairs against Ivorians but the Cranes found a way to weather those storms, and also subdue the rest of their opponents on the road to the win.
2. Hello Alex Aturinda
They don’t make backrowers elsewhere in Uganda like they do at Pirates. Fairs, he was with the Walukuba Barbarians before docking in Bweyogerere.
Alex Aturinda had his best outing in the Ugandan colors ever last weekend. He was as dominant on the attack as he was in defense.
The biggest test of the weekend was when he came up against the South Africans, locking them down on defense, while sparing a moment to go over on the other end to score the try that sent the Cranes to the final.
3. Never Give Up, Cranes.
We shall borrow Gayaza High School’s motto and applaud the Rugby Cranes side’s fight in the second half, to come back from 17-00 down against the Limpompo Country to win 18-17 with the game-winning try coming in the dying minutes.
If the high-performance expedition in South Africa should yield anything for the Cranes, the spirit of never giving up would be a nice place to start.
The environment and match sharpness drawn from coming up against fitter squads will be very vital in the Rugby Africa Cup later this month.
4. Aaron Owakabi
There was a different swagger with the Rugby 7s side in Mauritius this past weekend; different and better than was in Monaco at the Olympics Repechage. It was the return of Aaron Ofoywroth from injury.
Uganda surely missed his long-range, defense-splitting passes in Monaco and were glad to have him again on the continental scene. When the Cranes needed him most, he stepped up.
He put the South Africans under pressure in their own goal area, capitalizing on an error to score right below the posts to put Uganda in ascendence. He attacked the finale with the same impetus, scoring less than 30 seconds into the game. He finished the finale with a brace.
5. Super Supa Babas memories
The Rugby Cranes 15s side had their second trial game in South Africa against the Supa Barbarians, losing spectacularly, 41-13. That can easily be attributed to the limited turnaround game from the Limpompo game.
Rather, that particular game invoked special memories from 2018 when the Babas were in Uganda for a two-game tour, before the Gold Cup. Uganda lost the second game that time too, 22-08, with James Odongo scoring Uganda’s only and James Ijongat (flyhalf of the day) adding a penalty.
Of the players in the matchday squad that day, only eight players are in the Rugby Cranes squad today i.e. Asuman Mugerwa, Charles Uhuru, Robert Aziku, Byron Oketayot, Eliphaz Emong, Conrad Wanyama, Mike Otto and Santos Ssenteza. Pius Ogena, Adrian Kasito, and Aaron Ofoywroth are with the Sevens squad.
Courtesy Photos
