Africa Cup 7s: NRFF tips Black Stallions to beat Kenya, Senegal

By Akeem Lawal

AS the Nigeria's national rugby team, the Black Stallions begin campaign on Friday at the Africa Cup Sevens Tournament in Nairobi, Kenya, President of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation, NRFF, Sir Edward Fom has charged the team to go for glory.

Nigeria will play hosts Kenya and Senegal in pool ‘A’ of the two-day tournament to be held at the Kasarani Stadium.

The Black Stallions will take on Kenya in their opening game by 12.06pm, before facing Senegal by 3.36pm for a place in Saturday’s semi final spot.

In this interview with Sportsbiz247.blogspot.com at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos shortly before the team’s departure on Wednesday, Sir Fom express optimism about the team’s performance in Kenya.

Excerpts:

How confident are you on this team ahead of the Africa Cup tournament?

First of all we want to give God the glory for this day. We want to thank Almighty because it has not been easy with the kind of preparations we had to go through. But we've been able to put a lot of things together that have built up to this stage for us to be traveling. On the basis of that I want to say I'm really impressed by the way and manner the boys put all our challenges and obstacles behind and the way they blended with the fact that we had to slug it out the hard way. After going through all what I will personally call hardship, I am very confident that the players will do the country proud.

Sir Edward Fom addressing the Black Stallions before their departure to Kenya

You don’t have much foreign based players in the team.

Of a squad of 12 players, we only have two from South African clubs and one from a club in UK. Yes South Africa can still be looked at as foreign but I don't consider them as foreign because they are still in Africa, with due respect to that country.

So two players are from South Africa,  one from UK and the remaining nine are playing in our league here in Nigeria and we don't have problems with that.

Black Stallion at the MMA in Lagos shortly before leaving Nigeria

What is the target going for the Africa Cup?

First of all, we want to measure up to our rankings of the last time which was eight. We placed eight last year in the African rankings in Johannesburg. The manual tells us that the first two go up to the HSBC World Series and the last two out of the total 12 teams, get relegated to play in regional championships before they can qualify for African Continental championships. So moving forward, our target obviously will be to see if we can get within top five of the 12 nations that are playing which is achievable. Then look to the fact that the spoiler will be that we must maintain the eight position which we came last year.

The Black Stallions are in the same pool with Kenya, are you not wary of the host country?

 A rugby player is a rugby player. Of course on paper, Kenya is stronger than us. We cannot just sit down and conclude that at every level, Kenya is stronger than Nigeria, no. We too have our flaws and we look at the Kenya team with a lot of respect, we give them respect, but they too are just a rugby side. When you go into the pitch you are not thinking of who is big, you just play the best you can and let the results show for themselves. So we just look at Kenya as a formidable squad any other team will have to play against.

The team comprises of nine players from our local league, this means you are satisfied with our league.

First, we have confidence in the league. Secondly, I personally, from the inception of my presidency kicked against going to diaspora because why do we have boys that are toiling in and out every Saturdays in our league. We have good league yes, it has its own challenges and deficiencies, yes. But how does someone get to explore his own talent? How does a player gets to burst out in any international stage? How would players get the exposure? We picked the best out of our league so that they can go out there and compete. The more they compete, the more they are gaining experience, in wealth of knowledge, the antics of the game, politics that involves the referee on international games. You get to meet different kind of people, speak different kind of languages, and eat different kind of food. There are a lot of social, sporting, economic and personal advantages when a player travels. So why do we have a league if we keep going abroad. I like to encourage those that we have here.

The nine boys that we have are the Crème de la Crème of the players that we have here in Nigeria and my Technical Director who is also the vice president (Fasimoye Olatunji) has carried the burden to make sure that we pick the best. He has gone through thick and thin to make sure that these nine players that come from the locally administered league are the best that Nigeria can ever offer. I'm sure by the special grace of God, we are not just going out there for the fun of it, we are going for our hard work to show that those ten players have justification to be there in the first place.

Black Stallion at the MMA in Lagos before their departure to Kenya

Your parting shots to Nigerians?

Keep praying for the boys that we don't have injuries, that they all stay healthy. These boys have sacrificed every day in and out in all ramifications to make sure that they do the country proud.  We should pray for them that at the end of the day they will be strong to come out victorious. Wish us the best.

The team is traveling without being noticed by Nigerians, hopefully the team will receive a rousing welcome on return.

Well the good thing is that the Kenyan Airways that we fly sometimes noticed us, they are happy that we are on board. Actually when we were flying back from Morocco few months ago, we were honoured when the captain acknowledge the Nigerian team, that we are on board. So small by small and one day we will be toast of the country.

Thank you for your time

It's my pleasure.

Wish the team safe journey and best of luck in Kenya.

Thank you.