Nigeria have booked their ticket to the All Africa games and Olympics qualifiers after winning 2 games and losing 2 at the Africa cup North Rugby tournament. The Rugby National team started on a bright start after walloping Mali by 36-0 in the first game of the campaign.
The latest rave in the South West league, Christian Ogar of Cowrie RFC and Ikechukwu Onwukanjo scored 2 tries each with UK based Danjuma Msheila, Alfred Oche weighing in with a try of their own to bring the total numbers of points recorded to 30points.
Black Stallions’ captain Azeez Ladipo also contributed his own quota as he showed leadership by example by converting 3 penalty kicks to put the final score at 36points in favour of Nigeria.
In the second game It was a different story entirely as the more physical Morocco took the game to the Nigerian team.
After containing the Moroccans for a while, Nigeria lost their bearing later in the 1st half to concede the 1st try and finally conceding 14 tries to 0 in the 1st half.
In the 2nd quarter, it was business as usual for the Nigeria team as they tried to claw their way back into the game with Ikechukwu Onwukanjo scoring a try after an impressive run by former national team captain, Hammed Gbenga as Ladipo converted the resulting kick.
With spectators expecting a comeback by Nigeria with the score standing at 14-7, Morocco went a step ahead again with another 7 points of their own which took the wind out of the Nigerian team sail.
With the game coming to a close and both teams becoming tired, Morocco confirmed their superiority with another 7 points courtesy of a try and a penalty kick conversion.
Despite the 21 to 7 points loss, Nigeria were still able to qualify for the semifinals where they met their West Africa brothers, Ivory Coast which turned out to be an exciting match.
The match started on a cautious note as both sides were not ready to throw caution to the winds.
It paid off for the Ivorians as they drew the first blood before Onor Jato replied with a try of his own to draw level for Nigeria and Azeez Ladipo converted the resulting kick to give the Nigerian side a 2 point advantage into the half time.
The technical input of the technical crew paid off in the 2nd half as the Black Stallions dominated proceedings as they made use of the full length of the pitch to wear their opponents down.
The Black Stallions took the lead when Christian Ogar’s pressure on the opponent’s defense paid off as a careless ball was picked up by debutant, Ikechukwu Onwukanjo to score his 4th try of the competition before the dependable Azeez stepped up to convert the kick.
The match ended in 14 points to 5 in favor of the team.
In the finals, Nigeria once again met Morocco and this time the Nigerians took an early lead through Danjuma Msheila as the game started on a frenetic note as Azeez converted the penalty kick which put the score at 7-0 against Morocco.
The Nigerian side had the chance to see off their opponents but the chances were fluffed which gave the Moroccans the opportunity to come back in the 2nd half to claim the much coveted victory by 38 to 7 points.
The team will arrive in Nigeria From Togo today.
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