Saturday’s 26-14 loss to Germany ended the team’s road to the finals and ensured a longer wait for Uganda to get past the quarter-final stage.
Uganda Rugby Cranes head coach Tolbert Onyango is full of praise for his side despite falling short in the first round of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series this weekend.
Uganda are searching for a place in the HSBC World Series but dell to Germany in Friday’s semi-final to lose ground in the two-weekend tournament in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
“As a team, we felt that we did well,” Onyango said at the end of Day Three of the tournament.
“We just have a few areas to improve on. We felt that we could have done a bit better in defence, but as a whole, I can’t fault the boys.,” he added,
The Cranes sailed through their Pool C fixtures with high-scoring victories against Brazil, Jamaica and Korea 7s on Thursday and Friday.
13:09 - 20.04.2023
RUGBY Uganda Sevens defeat Jamaica for second victory
Uganda still have to play Korea Republic in their last pool game on Friday before finding out whether they make it to the knockout stages.
But Saturday’s 26-14 loss to Germany ended the team’s road to the finals and ensured a longer wait for Uganda to get past the quarter-final stage.
After failing to make it to the top four, Uganda’s next target was to stay as close as possible.
A 12-07 win over Chile in the fifth-place final and a tightly-contested 19-15 triumph over Italy ensured Uganda clinched fifth place to collect 12 points from the first of two legs.
The African champions will have to push a little harder in next weekend’s action to brighten their chances.
The winner of the competition, which will be decided on aggregate points over the two events, will enter a four-team playoff at the HSBC London Sevens in May, together with the teams placed 12th to 14th after 10 rounds of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2023. The winner of the playoff will achieve the coveted Sevens World Series 2024 status.
Tonga defeated Germany in the final to win the first round.
In the next round of action, Uganda is pooled with Germany, Brazil and Korea, teams they already faced this weekend.
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