“We shall have to work hard for this group.” Lady Rugby Cranes 7s head coach Charles Onen said immediately after World Rugby released the pools for the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger, Krakow, Poland event set for May 18 to 19.

Uganda is placed in Pool B with old foes Argentina, Paraguay, and Papua New Guinea.

The Poland event is the last one on the HSBC Challengers Series calendar before the top four teams based on points accumulated qualify for the final qualifying tournament for the 2025 HSBC World Rugby Sevens series in Madrid.

Currently, Lady Rugby Cranes sit fourth on the 12-team log with 28 points.

Onen spoke based on reality about his side’s Pool B. 

Uganda has lost to Argentina severely in the last two consecutive tournaments. In Dubai, Uganda lost to Argentina 36-10 for the third place, and in Montevideo, Argentina beat Uganda 21-5 in the group stage.

Argentina is second overall with 34 points.

Uganda has never played Paraguay, but shared the same group with Papua New Guinea in Dubai, Uganda winning 24-17.

Despite the pool’s harshness, Onen still works for the fourth and below position in Poland.

“We are still on our main target, fourth and below. That is when we can guarantee our flight to Madrid.” Onen added.

Changes from the team that finished fourth in Montevideo and mined gold in the African Games will be inevitable.

“We shall have to make some changes but that will depend on the situation in the camp in two weeks to come. We have some minor injuries and we can’t travel with injured players.” Onen stressed.

China tops the women’s table standings with 40 points.

For the men’s side, the Rugby Cranes 7s are in pool B with Hong Kong China, Tonga, and Mexico.

For the first time, Uganda has avoided either Germany or Kenya Shujaa during this campaign.

The men’s tournament is in Munich, Germany but shares the same weekend with the women.

Rugby Cranes 7s will be playing for nothing less than pride after blowing chances of qualifying for the final tournament in Madrid when they failed to meet their target of finishing in the top two in Montevideo.

Currently, Uganda stands 8th with 14 points and the table leaders Uruguay have 36 points.

However, the two teams will go to the final events of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challengers series motivated after team sponsors Nile Special thanked both teams for winning gold in Accra with shs50m each.