Samuria Club Wins Independence Rugby 7s Tournament In Lagos

TAIWO ADELU

Samuria International Rugby Football Club has justified its ranking in international Rugby 7s circult, as the prestigious, recognised rugby team emerged winner of the Independence Rugby 7s Competition which ended on Sunday at the Onikan Stadium, Onikan.

The rugby club from Kenya, which has grown into arguably the world’s most successful national Rugby 7s team, defeated Cowriee Rugby Football Club of Lagos by five tries and one conversion to earn 27 points against Cowrie RFC, which had two tries which attracted 10 points.

Team Manager of Samuria club, Fahad Adil, who is elated for winning the competition, said the Independence Rugby 7s competition had created an avenue for the team to parade players who had not tasted competitive tournaments for a while.

Having watched the video tapes and live matches of Cowrie Rugby Football Club, Adil, said they incapacitated Cowries Rugby Football Club, especially in the first half of the final match since the club’s strength lied in the early half of a match.

Adil, who explained that Nigeria’s Black Stallion was good but the team’s condition needed to be improved, said Nigeria’s Rugby team was a sleeping rugby giant which needed to wake-up by investing money on the team, adding that corporate bodies and sports philanthropists should rally round the team to make it a force to reckon with in Africa.

Captain of Cowrie RFC, Azeez Ladipo, said the competition had exposed the team’s poor defensive tactics as the squad’s break-up-down play needed to be improved.

The defeat, according to him, was a big lesson for the nation’s domestic rugby players who always complain of not being invited to the national team camp.

To the Chairman of Lagos State Sports Commission, who is also the Special Adviser on Sports to the Lagos State Governor, Mr Deji Tinubu, “the Independence sevens tourney has what it takes to create new sports culture in the state. As long as people want to play, we have to embrace it. Present at this tournament, we have people on a normal day you will not usually meet and interact with. Here we’ve got diplomat, experts and high net worth individuals. The sport will be more fun because of the vision to make Lagos a sports hub, as we plan to widen its scope.

“This tournament has been going on for a couple of years and we felt it’s a right vehicle to drive sports tourism because we’ve got international teams, international media coming to Lagos. Looking at the long term plan, the rugby sevens on the international calendar, we can make this championships one of the satellite tournaments which teams can come to on their ways to other sevens tournaments..

“What this does is that it opens up Lagos and show what the state is capable of, that we can host international tournaments. We got fantastic value for our partnership with the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation and are already looking forward to next year’s tournament.”