Uganda Sevens Coach Onyango Banks on Experience for Africa 7s

Uganda Rugby Cranes Sevens head coach Tolbert Onyango has banked on experience ahead of the upcoming Africa 7s in Mauritius.

The soft-spoken Onyango named his team for the tournament on Wednesday morning at Kyadondo Rugby Grounds.

However, in contrast to the last couple of outings, Tolbert has chosen to stick with experience.

Onyango dropped four of the young turks involved in the Olympics Repechage in Monaco last weekend. These include halfback William Nkore, Roy Kizito, Timothy Mugisha, and Allan Olango.

In the squad set for Mauritius, speedster Dennis Etwau is the only player without an African 7s gold medal to his name.

The rest of the 11 players have been part of previous Ugandan victories, with the last coming in April 2022 at Kyadondo Rugby Club.

Uganda Sevens team

Kampala Old Boys’ (KOBs) industrious forward Pius Ogena joins the squad after sitting out the Olympics Repechage last weekend.

Joining Ogena are Stanbic Pirates duo Isaac Masangazira and enforcer Desire Ayera. Both Masangazira and Ayera also didn’t make it to Monaco over the weekend.

Another absentee in Monaco was the mercurial Aaron Ofoyrwoth, whose absence was felt as the Rugby 7s missed his out-of-the-box creativity and menacing boot.

Other players selected are Pirates’ duo Timothy Kisiga and Alex Aturinda. Speedster Norbert Okeny from Platinum Credit Heathens joins the ever-brilliant Phillip Wokorach on the team.

KOBs trio including team captain Ian Munyani, Karim Arinaitwe, and Adrian Kasiito complete the fold.

The technical team includes coach Tolbert Onyango and physio Samuel Asiimwe. Allan Otim is the S&C Coach while the Team Manager is Michael Wandera.

The Rugby Cranes 7s has won the Africa Sevens tournament three times in 2016, 2017 and 2022. Kenya beat South Africa to win last year’s tournament in Zimbabwe. Rugby Cranes lost to South Africa in the semi finals before beating hosts Zimbabwe to finish third in Harare.