The Black Stallions of Nigeria have moved up 13 places in the latest Rugby Sevens ranking released by Rugby Africa.
The Black Stallions jumped up from 24th in Africa to 11th in the latest ranking released by Rugby Afrique, the body in charge of Rugby in Africa.
This is coming on the backdrop of recent performances by Nigeria’s men senior national team at the just concluded Rugby Sevens Pre- Olympic Qualifiers in Mauritius.
The Black Stallions who made it to the final following their impressive wins from the group stage to the final where they lost 24 – 5 to Algeria.
Nigeria defeated Ghana 24 -7 in the opening match before beating Burundi 43 -14 and in the last group match blew apart Congo 43-0.
In the quarter-final, the Coach Steve Lewis led lads thrashed Botswana 33-5 to qualify for semi-final where they met a highly determined Cote D’Ivoire side who also fell to the fire power of the Stallions 20-12.
Nigeria’s defeat to Algeria was the first and only setback they had inthe pre-qualifier in Mauritius.
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The Nigerian team was made up of eight new debutants which are Awobowale Olukolade Mobolaji – (Stallions RFC), Esiri Aaron – Asher Chinedu – (Bournvile RFC),Goualin Pierre Henri – (Old Priorians RFC), Henrry-Ajudua Chukwuyem Frederick – (Atlanta Major League Rugby), Ilube Matthew Maurice – (Old Priorians RFC), Lipede Adenekan Jojoola – (Old Colfeians RFC), Odunlami Oluwadara Olufewa – (University of Bath RFC) and Onyeahasi Alexander George (Clifton), while the old war horses were Ono Jatto, Gabriel John, Declan Nwachukwu and David Aniebonam.
Nigeria will hope to make it to the Olympics when they join Uganda, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Namibia, Madagascar, Tunisia, Zambia, Kenya, South Africa, Algeria and Cote D’Ivoire at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe in September.
