Rugby 7s Olympic squad named

By Johnson Were 

Rugby coach Tolbert Onyango Tuesday afternoon named the 12-man squad of the Rugby Cranes 7s team that travels to South Africa for the Olympic qualifiers due Saturday and Sunday.

Onyango is expecting a better performance in the tournament than what the team posted in the Kenya Safari 7s last month under Herbert Wafula's charge.

"We have worked on the fitness and defence, so we are hopeful of better results," Onyango told the New Vision.

Onyango, who coached the Uganda team in the 2013 Confederation of Africa Rugby 7s (CAR 7s) tournament in Mombasa and Commonwealth games in Glasgow, believes that once the boys play according the game plan, they will post better results. 

Rugby Cranes players Fred Odur (L); James Ijongat (C) and Ivan Magomu (R) stretch during training at  Kyadondo Rugby Club. PHOTO BY JOHNSON WERE

The team

Onyango named Michael Wokorach, Emmanuel Ecodu, Ramathan Govule, James Ijongat, James Odongo, Lawrence Ssebuliba, Paul Masendi, Philip Wokorach, Solomon Okia, Ivan Magomu, Pius Ogena and Eric Kasiita.

The team, captained by Michael Wokorach, leaves later today for South Africa where they will face, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Nigeria in the pool stages on Saturday.

Knockout stages will be played Sunday, with the tournament winner representing Africa in the 2016 Brazil Olympics.
Rugby will be a maiden event at the olympics.