Lady Cranes qualify for the World Cup

Lady Cranes lost 24 – 00 to South Africa in the finals of the World Cup qualifiers but will still travel to Dubai together with the Springboks to represent Africa at the inaugural IRB Women’s 7’s World Cup in March 2009. Lady Cranes made history as the first Ugandan sports team to qualify for a World Cup.

Lady Cranes started off their world cup campaign with dominant displays over Zimbabwe (30 – 00) and Botswana (48 – 00) before falling 12 – 05 to Tunisia. The Ugandan women were guilty of squandering their chances as they spent the first half camped in the Tunisian 22. They also failed to take advantage of their superior numbers when the Tunisian captain was yellow carded in the second half for a cynical foul. The Tunisians instead capitalized on mistakes from the Ugandans to score two tries and top the pool.

On the other hand, South Africa easily dispatched Uganda A (43 – 00), Zambia (31 – 00), and Kenya (34 – 05) to lead pool A. The top 4 teams were reseeded after the pool games according to number of games won and tries scored with South Africa going into the semifinals as top seeds, Tunisia second, Uganda third and Kenya fourth. The main cup/plate semifinals had South Africa taking on Kenya, and Uganda taking on Tunisia in what was a replay of the final games of the pool stages.

South Africa thumped Kenya 26 – 05 in the first semi final while Uganda edged Tunisia 07 – 00.

Other results:

Bowl/Shield semi-finals: Zambia beat Uganda A 26 – 10, while Zimbabwe beat Botswana 17 – 00.
Shield final: Uganda A beat Botswana 20 - 07.
Bowl final: Zambia beat Zimbabwe 38 – 00.
Plate Final: Kenya beat Tunisia 15 – 14.
Main Cup final: South Africa beat Uganda 24 – 00.

African IRB 7’s rugby world cup qualifiers

The women’s IRB rugby world cup qualifiers for Africa kick off this weekend (20th and 21st September) at Kyadondo Rugby Club in Kampala, Uganda. The 2 available slots for Africa will be contested for by hosts Uganda, top seeds South Africa, Kenya, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. The group stages will be held on Saturday followed by the knock out stages on Sunday. Madagascar and Cote d’Ivoire pulled out of the tournament due to financial constraints.

Coaches David Mutaka and Robert Sseguya selected a strong 12 woman squad that will be captained by Christine Kizito.

The Ugandan squad: Christine Kizito, Josephine Namayega, Winnie Atyang, Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi, Harriet Kayonjo (Thunderbirds), Fortunate Irankunda, Brenda Kayiyi, Prossy Nakakande, Helen Buteme (Black Panthers), Charlotte Mudoola, Mary Kyoita, Aliya Adania (Rangers).



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2 weeks to the African World Cup 7's qualifiers

The Lady Cranes had their second trials this weekend with head coach David Mutaka, assistant coach Robert Sseguya and the director of Uganda rugby, David Dobela looking to select the final 12 woman team for the IRB African World Cup qualifiers on the 20th and 21st September 2008 in Kampala, Uganda. 9 teams have confirmed their participation including top seeds South Africa, and last year's CAR semifinalists Kenya and Tunisia. Other countries that will take part are Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, Madagascar, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Mutaka will most likely pick his Lady Cranes squad from the following.

Forwards: Christine Kizito, *Josephine Namayega, Winnie Atyang, *Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi, *Dorothy Nekesa, Stella Bakole (Thunderbirds), *Aliya Adania (Rangers), *Fortunate Irankunda, *Brenda Kayiyi ( Black Panthers)

Backs: *Prossy Nakakande, Helen Buteme (Black Panthers), Charlotte Mudoola, *Mary Kyoita (Rangers), Asha Ssonko, Harriet Kayonjo, Sauda Adiru (Thunderbirds)

Mutaka will miss the services of Joan Andika (Rangers) on the wing as she picked up an injury in the first trials that will rule her out for the next 3 months.


*uncapped for 7's



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