Despite travelling with a handicapped seven-man playing squad, Uganda Men clinched an unbelievable bronze medal at the 2024 Willem Strauss International 7s tournament.
The current men’s African Games and Africa 7s holders beat South Africa (SA) All Stars by 40-07 points in the bronze medal match on Sunday afternoon.
Summary of Uganda Men’s Results:
Six teams; Zimbabwe, South Africa Blitz, UP Tuks, Rugby Academy, SA All Stars, and Uganda participated in the tournament. They played a round-robin phase to determine the seeding for the Cup Final and placement matches.
Round-robin matches:
- Uganda 19-17 Zimbabwe
- South Africa Blitz 31-05 Uganda
- Uganda 15-29 UP Tuks
- Uganda 14-12 Rugby Academy
- Uganda 14-14 SA All Stars
Uganda progressed to the 3rd/4th place playoff match where they faced SA All Stars again.
- Bronze medal match: Uganda 40-07 SA All Stars
Seven players, Karim Arinaitwe, Mubarak Wandera, Pius Ogena, Malcolm Daniel Okello, Mark Osuna, and Robin Odrua, played in the tournament. Ogena captained the squad while Okello and Odrua featured in their first international tours.
South African Damion Fuller (fourth from left in the photo) joined the playing squad as the eighth man. The team was managed by Uganda Women’s Charles Onen and Winnie Atyanga on the technical bench.
Uganda’s next tournament will be the 2024 Safari 7s, which will be held from October 11-13 in Nairobi, Kenya.
