Uganda’s U20 side suffered a heavy 37-07 defeat to Tunisia in their last trial game ahead of the Barthes Cup.
The junior Rugby Cranes won the first trial game 20-13 after trailing 10-06 at halftime. In the second game, the Ugandan youngsters were again behind at halftime, 18-07, a lead that proved insurmountable at the end of the day.
Uganda’s only points, scored by Walukuba Trojans’ Timothy Mawanda in the first half, were followed by a poor second half characterised by no clear identity from the team.
Despite that, Uganda seemed to have some control of the game in the opening 10 minutes of the half with the introduction of Namilyango College’s Titus Nnyonyintono.
That control came with no points, despite two penalty kick attempts by Nnyonyintono that went wide. On the other hand, Tunisia’s Mahamed Ali had better results from the tee in the first half, slotting in 2 penalties and a conversion.
Uganda’s failure to score in the second half largely came down to decision-making with penalties, often choosing to scratch and go, then losing possession in the process.
The Ugandan youngsters were punished for handing the ball over to the Tunisians, as every attack in the Ugandan half proved to be dangerous.
A few lessons the Ugandans, including their technical team, can learn from the Tunisians are how to play in the right areas and zones of the pitch, protecting possession, knowing when to turn the heat up — as the Tunisians looked like two different sides in every third of the pitch, and making the best possible decisions within their abilities at penalty time, in attack and defence.