The last seven days have been a nightmare for rugby in Uganda. As if the Rugby Cranes losing to archrivals Kenya wasn’t enough, they went on to lose to newly promoted Morocco on Day 2 of the Rugby Africa Cup.
Now staring down the barrel of relegation from the elite division, the Rugby Cranes have dropped in World Rugby rankings due to their two losses.
Because of the ‘points exchange system’ deployed by World Rugby, directly losing to Morocco means that Uganda loses ranking points while Morocco gains.
At the beginning of the Rugby Africa Cup, Uganda was ranked 41st in the world, but has now dropped to 48th. Morocco, on the other hand, has climbed up from 39th to 37th on the log.
The highest ranking Uganda has ever attained is the 31st position back in 2008 after they had won the Rugby Africa Cup in September of the previous year in Madagascar.
Uganda now faces the 64th-ranked Ivory Coast in the relegation playoff of the Rugby Africa Cup, and if they lose, they’ll cede points to Ivory Coast and drop even further down the rankings table.