When Kyadondo Rugby Club hosts the 3rd Stop of the National 7s, some teams will play without some of their preferred starters.
The most affected teams are the top sides like Black Pirates, Heathens, KOBs and Buffaloes, whose players are away on national team duty.
Other teams like the Walukuba Barbarians, Mongers and Victoria Sharks have lost a player each, but those missing players have been quite pivotal for them in the first two Stops of the National 7s.
This is a problem that teams should have anticipated at the start of the National 7s season, as the calendar was quite clear. However, this problem presents an opportunity for teams to test their squad depths and utilise some of the players in their wider Rugby 7s camps.
A window of opportunity has now opened for the youngsters and some of the older players who have been on the sidelines or returning from injury.
Case in point, the KOBs have called up youngster Shafic Okole, who is only a schoolboy at Upperhill School in Kenya. The young halfback showed great potential with the Boks and even made a couple of appearances for KOBs in last year’s Uganda Cup. The old guard of players like Byron Oketayot and Faragi Odugo is back in the fold for the Kyadondo 7s, while returning players like Jaffer Abdallah and Patrick Ochan have the opportunity to impress in the absence of Ian Munyani and Karim Arinaitwe. Â
Additionally, first team starters who were not selected for the National 7s get to stand up in leadership roles. Brian Wandera for the KOBs, Gift Wokorach for the Walukuba Barbarians, Jones Kamiza for the Black Pirates and Heathens’ returning duo of Innocent Thomas Gwokto and Lawrence Ssebuliba have all been named as captains or vice-captains while the club leaders are away.
It is now time to test the strength of the wider 72-player base that teams are expected to register at the start of the season, in addition to the mid-season transfers like Nicholas Kato for Pirates and Andrew Odhiambo for the Heathens.