If you have watched Ugandan rugby for at least three years now, you must have noticed that the Men’s Sevens squad has not, and does not, change much. Head coach Tolbert Onyango has worked with the same boys from as far back as 2015 and turned them into championship-winning men.
While a few new faces have joined and left the roster, the core of the squad has not changed. At World Rugby and Rugby Africa tournaments, the Commonwealth Games, and other events as an invitational side.
Captain Michael Wokorach, Desire Ayera, Ian Munyani in the pack plus backs Aaron Ofoywroth, Adrian Kasito, Timothy Kisiga, and Philip Wokorach. That’s Onyango’s squad, and if it’s not broke, he won’t try to fix it.
These are the twelve men going to lead Uganda’s charge during her second successive appearance at the Rugby World Cup Sevens.
Uganda Men’s Sevens squad for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022:
- Players: Michael Wokorach (captain), Ian Munyani (vice-captain), Desire Ayera, Aaron Ofoywroth, Adrian Kasito, Timothy Kisiga, Philip Wokorach, Alex Aturinda, Ivan Otema, Karim Arinaitwe, Nobert Okeny, William Nkore.
- Team Manager: Michael Wandera
- Head Coach: Tolbert Onyango
- S&C Coach: Timothy Mudoola
- Physiotherapist/Medic: Samuel Rwakijuma Asiimwe
Six of these; Wokorach, Ayera, Kasito, Kisiga, and Wokorach, will be making their second appearance at the event.
The rest of the squad, which finished nineteenth out of twenty-four nations at the 2018 event in San Francisco, had Byron Oketayot, James Odongo, Solomon Okia, Ivan Magomu, Justin Kimono, and Pius Ogena.
The team for the 2022 event will be officially flagged off at the National Council of Sports head office in Lugogo on Friday but will leave the country on Morning morning aboard Uganda Airlines.
The Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 event will be played at the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa from September 9-11.
As it was in 2018, Uganda’s campaign will kick off on day one with a pre-Round of 16 tie against Samoa at 10.29 a.m. EAT. A win will advance the African champions to the Round of 16 where they will face USA in the afternoon session. A loss on the other hand will drop them to the Bowl Quarterfinals scheduled for day two.