Rugby cranes enjoy long flights

The Ugandan men’s and women’s national rugby sevens teams are in for a huge ride over the next five months.

The curtains are about to come down on the domestic season, but the Lady and Rugby Cranes Sevens teams are about to book their flights.

“We have a busy schedule, but we prepared for it early and that is why we signed the players for a full year because we knew we would need them almost the whole year,” said Isaac Lutwama, CEO of Uganda Rugby Union. Daily monitor.

He added: “This is a combination of what the association, players and teams have done to ensure we are in a high performance environment to play in the biggest tournaments and qualify for even bigger tournaments.”

Firstly, the two teams are already preparing for the third and final round of the respective World Rugby HSBC Men’s and Women’s Sevens Challenger, which will take place from May 18 to 19 in Munich, Germany and Krakow, Poland.

Lady Cranes will have to match at least their fourth place in Dubai and Montevideo, where they collected 28 points.

The top four ranked countries from the three tours will qualify for the promotion and relegation play-off at the grand final in Madrid at the end of May.

The top four from the Madrid circuit will qualify for the 2025 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.

The two teams who returned as champions from the African Games in Ghana in April must use the same energy to improve on their respective third-place finishes in last year’s men’s and women’s Africa Sevens.

They will have to beat 11 other teams for the only remaining ticket to Paris in the Olympic Repechage taking place June 21-23 in Monaco, France.

The men’s competition will be decided between Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Great Britain, Hong Kong China, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Spain, Tonga and Uganda.

The same will apply to the women who will have to compete for one ticket to Paris with Argentina, China, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong China, Kenya, Jamaica, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Poland, Samoa and the Czech Republic.

But before that, the men’s team will be in Mauritius to regain their African Sevens title from Kenya.

The Cranes settled for bronze in Zimbabwe last year after being dethroned by their neighbors.

The Ugandan ladies will look to culminate their year when they return to Tunisia for the 2024 Africa Women’s Sevens at the end of October.

In addition to the sevens, the highlight is the highly anticipated Rugby Africa Cup, which will be held for the first time in Uganda at the newly renovated Namboole Stadium from 18 to 29 July.

May 17-18: World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series men (Munich) and women (Warsaw)

June 21-23: Olympic repechage men and women, Monaco

June 27 – July 8: Africa Men’s Sevens, Mauritius

October 24 – November: Africa Women’s Sevens, Tunisia

October 11-13: Kenya Safari Sevens men and women, Nairobi

May 17-18: World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series men (Munich) and women (Warsaw)

July 18-29: Rugby Africa Cup

NB. The dates for the Elgon Cup and Tunisia test visit to Uganda for men and women are yet to be confirmed

World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series

Third stage – Munich, Germany

Pool A: Uruguay, Germany, Georgia, Papua New Guinea

Pool B: Hong Kong, China, Uganda, Tonga, Mexico

Group C: Kenya, Chile, Portugal, Japan

Third stage – Warsaw, Poland

Group A: China, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Czech Republic

Pool B: Argentina, Uganda, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea

Group C: Belgium, Poland, Kenya, Mexico

Olympic repechage tournament 2024

Pool A: South Africa, Chile, Tonga, Mexico

Group B: Great Britain, Canada, Uganda, China

Pool C: Spain, Hong Kong China, Papua New Guinea, Brazil

Pool A: Argentina, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Samoa

Group B: Uganda, Paraguay, Hong Kong, China, Jamaica

Group C: China, Poland, Czech Republic, Mexico

Teams: Uganda, Namibia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Algeria