Africa Cup 7s: Black Stallions return from Kenya

By Akeem Lawal 

Black Stallions on arrival at the MMA in Lagos

THE Nigeria Rugby national team, Black Stallions are back in the country after featuring at the African Cup 7s Tournament held in Nairobi, Kenya, last weekend.

Black Stallions placed 7^th at the two-day tournament held at the Kasarani Stadium, Nairobi, an improvement to their 8th place finish achieved at the 2015 edition held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Nigeria delegation made up of 12 players and three officials touched down at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos via Kenya Airways at 3.30 pm on Monday after over three hours of flight delay.

In a chat with Sportsbiz247.blogspot.com, President of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation, NRFF, Sir Edward Fom commended the team for putting up an excellent performance despite having just three foreign based players in the squad.

 “First of all, we give God the glory that we are back, it wasn’t easy going out there with the challenges that we faced and the circumstances in which we found ourselves. But having said all of that, in my personal opinion, the boys performed excellently well. In the opinion of all the African Rugby officials, and I like to quote them when they said ‘for this time Nigeria has come to the party’. 

Vice President, Fasimoye Olatunji (in black) with the team

“What the boys did out there shows they have improved the level of their game. I want to add at this point, it was so good that Nigeria was placed as the most disciplined technical sound team and that is a big plus for the Nigerian team. 

“Nigeria also enters seventh, a feat we want to call playing in creme dela creme. With the intensity that rugby is being played right now, these all home based team went out there and showed most  of the teams who have their European based players that they too have come and come to play rugby. 

 

Captain of the team, Azeez Ladipo (in green)

“So in a nut shell, the boys did excellently well in all department. The score or ranking do not represent how hard these boys put in their efforts. I think that Nigerians should be proud that their home based did not disappoint anybody.

Also, NRFF Vice President, Olatunji Fasimoye believes the Black Stallions will soon be rubbing shoulders with the top teams in African, judging by their performance in Kenya.

“We have made a lot of improvement and considering the fact that the team is predominantly dominated by home based players and they really showed that they can meet up with others out there. It’s a revelation for us.

Nigeria Rugby team at the MMA awaiting their  shuttle bus

“For us beating a team like Morocco and also going to a sudden death with a team like Tunisia has shown that we are getting there and we just need to work more. Very soon we can start beating teams like Kenya, Namibia and so on.

“We have always been growing, last three years we placed 12th, last year we finished 8th and this year we are 7th. But it is not about the placement, it’s about the growth and understanding of the players. If you see what happen in Kenya, you will know that our boys are already there, we just need to work more.

The Black Stallions lost to host country, Kenya 33-5 in their opening match but bounced back to beat Senegal 36-5 in their second game. In the semi final ranking match, Nigeria lost to Tunisia 12 – 7, no thanks to an extra time try by the North Africans. The last game then saw them beating Morocco 19 – 5 in the 7/8th ranking match.

 

NRFF President, Sir Edward Fom

Black Stallions Captain, Azeez Ladipo who said the players had a great experience at the Africa Cup 7s, calls for more international tournament for the team.  

“Against Kenya, we hesitated a lot. Most of the new guys hesitated a lot in the attack and also our defense was not that coordinated. So what we did in the second game was to go back and improve on the warm up session, improve on the psyche of the guys and in the second game we came back and beat Senegal. 

“Tunisia have always dominated us in every game we’ve played against them in the past and this time around we wanted to win that game. It was very painful and frustrating to have lost in sudden death owing to the fact that we had few opportunities to actually score a try and end the game.  But it’s a learning curve for us, we need to play in more tournaments, get fitter, get stronger and I believe we will put this behind us and win our games in the future.”