The Uganda men’s rugby sevens head coach Tolbert Onyango named a 14-man travelling team for continued camp in Stellenbosch ahead of the forthcoming 2023 World Rugby Challenger Series.
Nineteen players were summoned for camp training which had been taking place for slightly over a month within the country but only 14 have been confirmed to travel and continue training at Stellenbosch and later represent the country in the said Challenger series tournament.
There has been a significant change from the team that took part in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth games, and the team that represented in the 2022 Challenger series in Chile.
Most notable is the absence of the then captain Micheal Wokorach and Philip Wokorach and it remains to be confirmed as to whether the two will be joining the team as the tournament draws closer.
New faces have also been noted. Yasin Waswa, Aaron Tukei and Mubarak Wandera get their first national duty call-ups.
The tournament is scheduled to take place on 20th-22nd and 28th-30th of April but the selected team was flagged off on 30th March, 2023 and was headed to Stellenbosch, South Africa
The early send off has been explained to be part of preparation ahead of the sevens tournaments this year which include the Challenger series and the Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens in Zimbabwe later in September.
The Rugby Challenger Series is a highly anticipated event in the world of rugby, featuring some of the best up-and-coming talent from around the world.
The winner of the series will stand a chance at qualifying for the HSBC London Sevens series scheduled for May 2023 as they enter a play-off with the 12th, 13th and 14th placed teams at the end of ten rounds of the HSBC World Rugby Series.
The winner of the play-off will also achieve the Sevens World Series core status for 2024.
Participating nations in World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series:
Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Jamaica, Korea, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Uganda, Zimbabwe.
The travelling squad: William Nkore, Ian Munyani, Yasin Waswa, Timothy Kisiga, Denis Etwau, Timothy Mugisha, Aaron Ofoywroth, Adrian Kasito, Mubarak Wandera, Alex Aturinda, William Lukwago, Nobert Okeny, Allan Olango, Aaron Tukei.
