The Uganda Rugby Cranes sevens team succumbed to a 26-14 defeat to Golden Lions in the shield final of the Safaricom Sevens tournament at the Safaricom Stadium on Sunday.
Cranes surprisingly conceded 26 points in the second half of the encounter despite securing a 14 points lead in the first half courtesy of tries from Micheal Wokorach, Ramadhan Govule and Phillip Wokorach’s conversion. Golden Lions who made the dramatic comeback, edged Suzuku Wailers 14-12 to reach the Shield finals, a side the cranes thumped 22-10 in the group stages.
Cranes headed for this final on the back of an inspiring 42-10 thrashing of Boland in the Shield semi finals. Keith Seruyange, Phillip Wokorach and Emmanuel Ecodu touched down past the try-line twice each along with Micheal Wokorach who scored the other try.
The Ugandan outfit closed out their participation in the competition with four losses, and only two victories in six encounters, scoring a total of 100 points, conceding 114 points.
Road To The Shield Final
The national sevens side kicked off the Safari Sevens tournament
with a 19-7 loss to Argentina on Saturday before further falling to a 10-25 defeat to Western Province.
Both sides had six men at different intervals of the match but the Cranes failed to effectively utilise the opportunity as Western Province broke the deadlock courtesy a try for an early lead.
Emmanuel Ecodu, Phillip Wokorach, Solomon Okia and Micheal Wokorach spurred the outfit to a much-needed recovery with a try each, beating Suzuki Wailers 22-10 to book a bowl quarter final with Sharks.
Sharks disappointed fired up Cranes with a 5-24 final score, condemning them to a Shield Semi final against Boland that had just been thrashed by Spain.
Boland suffered a 42-10 defeat to pave way for the Cranes’-Golden Lions safaricom sevens shield final.