CAR women's 7's in Tunisia

Lady cranes' (uganda's women's national team) season started very early in the year with a trip to Tunisia. Lady cranes were runners up to south africa in the inaugural southern africa CAR 7's championship held in Uganda last year (2006). This was impressive enough to land them (as well as South Africa and semi finalists Kenya) an invite to take part in the northern africa CAR 7's tournament held in Tunisia in March. '

2007 saw a return to international rugby by Helen Buteme who had missed the 2006 international season as well as the timely appointment of Herbert Wafula (former Kenyan AND Ugandan international 7's and 15's player) as the women's 7's coach, a new 7's captain (Winnie Atyang) and a new look Lady cranes 7s squad. The below story is take on what happened by one of the players (Helen Buteme) on the tour.

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LADY CRANES IN TUNISIA

By Helen Buteme

The 2007 women’s rugby season started with some pleasant surprises for the Lady Cranes. First was the appointment of veteran Uganda 7’s player and former Rugby Cranes coach, Herbert Wafula (Herbo), as head coach of the Lady Cranes’ 7’s team. Second was the announcement by the Uganda Rugby Union (URU) that it would sponsor the Lady Cranes to travel to Tunisia to compete in the 4th International Tunisia CAR Women’s 7’s from the 9th and 10th of March in Tunis. Together with his assistant coach, Timothy Mudoola (Timo), Herbo quickly set about the mammoth task polishing our skills and upping our fitness levels in only 3 weeks as well as the equally difficult task of learning everyone’s names. Training done, Herbo selected his squad of 10 players. The touring squad was; Winnie Atyang - Captain (Thunderbirds), Stella Bakole (Thunderbirds), Christine Kizito (Thunderbirds), Charlotte Mudoola (Rangers), Hadijah Namuyanja - Vice Captain (Rangers), Helen Buteme (Black Panthers), Rachel Kakaire (Thunderbirds), Asha Sonko (Thunderbirds), Joan Andika (Rangers) and Sauda Adiru (Thunderbirds). We set off for Tunisia on the 7th March and we were welcomed at the airport by the Tunis Rugby Federation officials. On exiting the airport we were greeted by a blast of cold wind so strong that it was a struggle to stay on our feet and the lightweights were almost blown away. Only the heavyweights (Herbert, Christine and Winnie) walked relatively comfortably to the minivan waiting to take us to the Federation Rugby hostel (Maison de Rugby). We had a mid morning training session on Friday to try and get used to the conditions and had a rough time of it. The weather was dismal (cold, windy and rainy) and the pitch was very wet and muddy. The cold froze our fingers making it hard to catch the ball and when passing the ball the wind carried it in another direction. The tournament kicked off on Friday at 3pm with no improvement in the weather and pitch conditions. Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, Uganda and our perennial rivals Kenya had been invited to lock horns with Tunisia, Morocco, Arabian Gulf and defending champions French club Montpellier. Unfortunately, South Africa, Kenya, Morocco and Montpellier pulled out leaving only Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire, Tunisia, Arabian Gulf and a Tunisian Select Universities side to compete for top honours. The tournament was played on a round robin basis with each team playing 2 games on each day. Our first game was against Cote d’Ivoire. The West Africans shared our size, build and speed but we were a more experienced bunch and after getting over our initial jitters, we scored 4 tries through Rachel (2 tries), Hadijah Namuyanja (1 try) and Stella (1 try), with a conversion from Rachel. In spite of the 22 – 00 win, it was a scrappy game from us: perhaps because we were still adjusting to the weather or we had not had enough preparation time to gel as a team or simply because we were not focused but either way, as a team, we were not pleased with how we played. Neither was the coach and although happy with the win, Herbo told us that judging from how the other teams had played through the day we had to improve drastically if we wanted a first place finish. The final game of the day was against the University side. With the home crowd advantage and a partisan Tunisian referee, the University side stretched us and at half time the score was still a barren draw. A pep talk from the coach at half time failed to bring us back into the game and we struggled to make any headway. In the dying minutes, Charlotte was given a yellow card reducing us to 6 players. Ironically it was then we woke up and produced the best rugby we had played so far, both in attack and defence. The Tunisians tried to take advantage of their extra player and their scrum half broke away with only empty space between her and the tryline. Winnie and I (Helen) chased down the player and her support and in the ensuing tackles, Winnie turned over the ball and passed to Hadijah who raced away to the tryline. The try was not converted and the game ended then. We were in second place on points’ difference as Tunisia had beaten the Arabian Gulf 05 – 00 and Cote d’Ivoire 36 - 00. A win is a win but neither the team nor the coach was satisfied with our performance: we were yet to stamp our authority in our games. On Saturday, we woke up to a bright sunny morning and the wind had lessened. We took it to be a good omen and our spirits brightened. We met the Arabian Gulf in our first game. However, it seemed as if we were playing an English/European side as ALL the players were from the UK and Europe and none were Arabs. After the Tunisians, they were the bulkiest girls in the tournament. They lacked the speed of the North Africans but they had good ball skills and were an experienced lot. We started the game well and some beautiful inter-backs play had Rachel and Charlotte each scoring a try and a determined run from Winnie earned her a try as well. A conversion from Rachel had us ahead by 17 – 00 at half time. Herbo was a lot happier with our play in attack although there was room for improvement but our tackling had generally become very sloppy. Christine and Rachel were substituted by Asha and Sauda and with fresh legs we hoped to increase our lead and narrow the points’ deficit between Tunisia and us. However, lack of concentration from us allowed the Gulf to completely dominate us in second half and they pinned us in our own half. We totally went to pieces and were unable to complete any attacking moves and we were all guilty of missed tackles. The Gulf took advantage of that to score 2 tries and kept us under pressure for the entire duration. In the last seconds of the game, Christine pushed a fleeing Gulf winger into touch ensuring that we finished the game victorious. Unfortunately for us, Tunisia had beaten the University side 17 - 05 so our 17 – 10 result against the Gulf meant that we were still trailing Tunisia on points’ difference; they had 53 points we had 34. The last game of the day (and tournament), was Tunisia versus Uganda. It was the deciding match of the tournament as we were both unbeaten. We had to win as we had a lower points’ difference; Tunisia only had to force a draw to take the trophy. From watching their earlier games and our previous experience with their University side, we knew that the Tunisians would not be a walkover. We spent the first minutes of the first half pinned in our 22. Hard tackles from everyone and a tight defence kept the aggressive Tunisians off our tryline. Our defence paid off and Stella forced an error at a ruck and we were awarded a penalty. Slick moves between the backs left the Tunisians flatfooted and their defence in disarray. The ball was swung out to a waiting Christine who charged into a hapless Tunisian between her and the tryline. With Rachel down from an earlier tackle, I took the conversion and missed and that miss was to come back and haunt me at the end of the game. For the rest of the half we kept them in their 22 but were unable to translate the pressure into tries. In spite of their bulk the Tunisians were fast and closed down our backs whenever we made breakthroughs. The first half ended with us in the lead but it was too slim a lead for us to feel comfortable. Herbo urged us to keep our focus and warned that the second half would be harder. Asha replaced Stella who was unable to continue playing due to an injury. Unfortunately, in the second half, Rachel was given a yellow card for a high tackle and for the second time in the tournament we were down to 6 players. From the ensuing penalty close to the 5, the ball was swung out to the Tunisian winger who scored a try in the corner. The conversion was missed and we were tied at 05 – 05. With Rachel back on, the Tunisian’s temporary advantage over us was cancelled but the Tunisians had a psychological boost from the try and got back into the game. The Tunisian winger took advantage of a lapse in concentration and broke through down the wing and looked to have a sure try but I cross covered and pushed her into touch ensuring the scores remained even. Unfortunately, at that point, the referee (also Tunisian) ended the game after only 6 minutes of second half play and it was tears and disappointment for Lady Cranes. Due to their better points’ difference, the Tunisians lifted the winner’s trophy while we were the runners up. All in all, it was a great trip for exposure and kudos to URU and the Uganda Women's Rugby Association (UWRA) and CAR for making it possible. Although, we did not come back home empty handed, we are not satisfied with the runners up trophy and under Herbo, Timo, Fred Mudoola (fitness and nutrition coach), Jeroline Akubu (Team manager), Dr. Ambrose (Team doctor) we are already gearing up for the Ugandan CAR 7’s on the 16th – 17th June. The teams likely to take part are Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. We are determined to be the 2007 African 7’s champions so make a date to come and watch us. Funding permitting, we also aim to go for the Mosi 7’s in Zambia (June), the Safari 7’s in Kenya (June) and the Dubai 7’s (November/December). All this is in preparation for the IRB World Cup 7’s in 2009 and we MUST be there to represent Uganda!!! WOMEN’S RUGBY IS ON A ROLL SO PLEASE SUPPORT US IN ANY WAY THAT YOU CAN.

Uganda womén's rugby contact: ugwomensrugby@yahoo.com