South Africa better Uganda again

The Lady Cranes reached the finals of the Nelson Mandela Bay 7's held at the Pearson High School, Summerstrand in Port Elizabeth, South Africa after topping their pool on day 1 (Friday 12th December) with victories against Eastern Province, the Department of Correctional Services and the Blue Bulls.

In the first game against Eastern Province, Rachel Kakaire and Helen Buteme scored one try apiece with Kakaire converting to take the final score to 12 - 00. Justine Bayiga got herself on the scoresheet in the game against the Department of Correctional Services with 2 tries, while captain Christine Kizito and Fortunate Irankunda both crossed the try line once. Kakaire added 2 conversions to end the game at 24 - 00. South Africa won both their pool games against Blue Bulls and Border to top their pool and set up a date with Eastern Province in one semi final while the Cranes took on Blue Bulls in the other semi final.

The semi finals were on 13th December, and the Lady Cranes had to dig deep to get themselves into the final. The Blue Bulls scored twice before the Lady Cranes clawed their way back into the game courtesy of 2 tries from Rachel Kakaire and 1 try from Helen Buteme. The final score was 15 - 10 to the Ugandans: the South Africans beat Eastern Province to meet Uganda in their 4th finals date since 2006.

On their home ground the South Africans hammered the Ugandans into submission, easily running out the winners with an emphatic 36 - 00 drubbing.

The top try scorer of the tournament was South African Phumeza Gadu while the MVP accolade went to her captain Saloma Booysen.



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