Nigeria has risen to the 73rd place in the world and 11th in Africa according to the latest World Rugby rankings.
Nigeria was ranked 81st in the world and 13th in Africa prior to the 2014 Africa Nations Cup 1C in which the Black Stallions placed third behind Botswana and Mauritius and quickly climbed three places to 78th after the tournament.
NRFF Vice president and Technical director; Tunji Fasimoye announced the good news to the press in Lagos “It’s a great tribute to the team and players and all the credit should go to them,” he said the home based players did well last year at the Africa cup 1C in Botswana where our players; Christian Ogar, Azeez Ladipo and Isaac Sani won ‘man of the match’ awards in all three matches played against Zambia, Swaziland and South African Cell C champions; Impala respectively.
The Black Stallions 7s were also commended by Rugby Africa officials for putting up a good show when they faced Zimbabwe 7s team at the Africa Cup 7s in Harare last year. He said the teams’ performance by predominantly home based players informed Rugby Africa that we have improved the standard of our grassroots rugby back home.
Fasimoye made it known that this year will be different as the NRFF will bring in a handful of foreign players to complement our home based players. He said the technical team will be tasked with ensuring that there is a perfect blend of home and foreign based players for optimal results. He further stressed the need for corporate sponsorship to enable the NRFF execute its developmental plans in 2015 and beyond. “Nigeria; with our population of over 160 million has the potential to become the next power house of the sport in Africa. We have to thank CMB Building Maintenance & Inv Co Ltd for their unflinching support towards rugby however; we need more financial backing from corporate Nigeria to achieve this goal”.
Meanwhile, World Rugby’s ranking shows Newzealand retains their number one spot, South Africa remains second while Ireland, England and Wales occupy the third, fourth and fifth positions. In Africa, South Africa remains the power house of rugby in number one position followed by Namibia (2nd), Zimbabwe (3rd), Kenya (4th) and Tunisia (5th).
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