Lady Cranes set for Mandela 7's

The Lady Cranes 7’s team departs for South Africa on Thursday to take part in the Nelson Mandela Bay 7’s. Coaches David Mutaka and Robert Sseguya plan to use this tournament to try out new combinations. The team will, however, do without the services of Josephine Namayega who has been ruled out for one month due to an ankle injury and Charlotte Mudoola who has examinations. Asha Ssonko and Rachel Kakaire come back into the squad to replace Namayega and Mudoola respectively while Justine Bayiga takes the place of Mary Kyoita on the wing.

Final Squad:
Forwards: Christine Kizito (captain), Asha Ssonko (Thunderbirds), Aliya Adania (Rangers), Fortunate Irankunda, Brenda Kayiyi (Black Panthers).Backs: Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi, Winnie Atyang, Harriet Kayonjo, Rachel Kakaire (Thunderbirds), Prossy Nakakande, Helen Buteme (Black Panthers), Justine Bayiga.

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Lady Cranes confirmed to travel to South Africa

Lady Cranes 7's team, sponsored by ICEMARK, flies out to Port Elizabeth, South Africa next week to take part in the Nelson Mandela Bay 7's tournament. David Mutaka and Robert Sseguya are yet to select the final 12 woman squad from the larger squad of 19.

Forwards: Christine Kizito, Asha Ssonko, Josephine Namayega, Aliya Adania, Fortunate Irankunda, Brenda Kayiyi, Dorothy Nekesa, Claire Anena.
Backs: Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi, Prossy Nakakande, Winnie Atyang, Rachel Kakaire, Helen Buteme, Harriet Kayonjo, Agnes Nantongo, Sauda Adiru, Justine Bayiga, Mary Kyoita, Charlotte Mudoola.

The jury is still out on Uganda's 200 and 400 metre sprint queen, Justine Bayiga. Will her 2 month training stint be enough for her to storm her way onto the team? Watch this space.


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Lady Cranes for Dubai/South Africa

David Mutaka and Robert Sseguya will soon be trimming their 19 woman squad to 12 as they prepare for the Dubai 7's in Dubai later this month and the Nelson Mandela Bay 7's in South Africa next month. Although neither of the trips have been confirmed the women rugby players are confident and all set to go.

The first set of trials were held on Saturday and the progress of 400 metre national sprint champion Justine Bayiga was keenly noted. Bayiga, who represented Uganda in the 400 metres at the 2008 Beijing summer Olympics, has recently traded her runners spikes for rugby boots and has been undergoing drills with the 7's squad for the past one month. Bayiga was called up to the team in a bid to inject some pace into the Lady Cranes' attack and if she can master the basics of the game she will be a lethal addition to the team.


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Final teams for the 2009 women's 7's RWC

16 teams qualified for the world cup from 6 regions.

CONSUR (South America)
Brazil

FIRA-AER (Europe)
England
Netherlands
France
Russia
Spain
Italy

(CAR) AFRICA
South Africa
Uganda

(FORU) OCEANIA
Australia
New Zealand

ARFU (ASIA)
Japan
Thailand
China

NAWIRA (North America)
Canada
USA

There will be 4 pools of 4 teams and IRB has seeded 8 teams according to their relative strengths and how they performed in their regional qualifiers. The rest of the teams will be drawn randomly into the 4 pools.

seed 1 - England
seed 2 - Australia
seed 3 - Canada
seed 4 - New Zealand
seed 5 - Japan
seed 6 - Netherlands
seed 7 - South Africa
seed 8 - Brazil

Lady Cranes squad for the World Cup

The URU/UWRA have recalled all the 12 players that recently qualified for the IRB women's 7's rugby world cup due in Dubai, March 5th to 7th 2009.

Christine Kizito, Josephine Namayega, Winnie Atyang, Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi, Harriet Kayonjo(Thunderbirds), Fortunate Irankunda, Brenda Kayiyi, Prossy Nakakande, Helen Buteme (Black Panthers), Aliya Adania, Charlotte Mudoola and Mary Kyoita (Rangers) made history when they reached the main cup final of the African qualifier tournament thus booking a place at the inaugural IRB women's 7's rugby world cup and a place in Ugandan history. No other sport - men or women's - has succesfully qualified for a World Cup.

Asha Ssonko, Dorothy Nekesa, Rachel Kakaire, Agnes Nantongo, Sauda Adiru (Thunderbirds), Claire Anena (Black Panthers) and Ugandan national 400m champion Justine Bayiga have earned call ups to David Mutaka and Robert Sseguya's training squad.

The women have already resumed training and are hoping to travel to South Africa and Dubai later this year and San Diego, USA early next year for build up tournaments as part of their world cup preparations.


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Lady Cranes get tips from down south

The world cup bound Lady Cranes 7's team will benefit from a week long training session with former Springbok 7's coach, Norman Mbiko. The South African tactician arrived in the country last week and has already conducted a number of training sessions with the men's 7's team in a bid to boost their preparations for their qualifier tournament that will be in Tunisia next month. From the men, Mbiko will switch his attention to the ladies and leave coaches, David Mutaka and Robert Sseguya with tips for their charges before he returns to South Africa. Mbiko will be expected to return later in the year with the Emerging Springboks and the Sprinboks women's 7s coach Denver Wannies.

20 ladies have been called up for training for Uganda among them Ugandan national 400 metre sprint queen Justine Bayiga who will be expected to add pace to the team.

I will post the names of the squad as soon as I get hold of the list.

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Lady Cranes USPA winners for September

The Lady Cranes 7's team were awarded the September Uganda Sports Press Association (USPA) award for qualifying for the world cup. The journalists' decision to crown the women rugby players was unanimous and it is the first time that any team or individual have won the award unopposed.

Well done Lady Cranes.


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