Friends Of Rugby Firm Up Plans For Nigeria Independence Rugby 7s Tournament 2015

Organisers of Independence International 7s Tournament have begun planning ahead for the event. The Independence Rugby 7s tournament is held annually to commemorate Nigeria’s Independence anniversary. The tournament will be staged again at the Onikan stadium on the 9th and 10th of October 2015. The two day tournament which started in the year 2009 has since grown to be the biggest Rugby 7s party in West Africa. Its 2013 edition had a wider International participation with clubs from the UK, Egypt and Ghana adding the much needed International flavour. However, clubs from every zone in Nigeria competed extremely well last year and we witnessed an electrifying final year between Cowrie RFC and Barewa RFC of Kano. Cowrie RFC beat Barewa RFC 27-14 to emerge 2014 champions.

Cowrie RFC Captain Azeez Adenopo Receiving the winner’s Trophy from then Governor of Lagos State Babatunde Fashola

“The 2015 edition promises to be bigger and better, eleven local and five international teams will battle for this year’s trophy, We have received expression of interest from Ultimate Rugby 7s team from the Uk, Blitzboks 7s from South Africa, Accra Sharks of Ghana and two more foreign teams. This tournament is potentially a major tourist attraction and we are putting all structures in place for a great tournament”. Says Tournament coordinator; Olatunji Fasimoye

Fasimoye also stressed that last year’s finalists, Cowrie RFC and Barewa RFC have automatic spots if they express interests this year but other local teams across the country will have to go through a “playoff” for a spot in the tournament due to increasing number of foreign team’s participation as it was done last year. Modalities of Playoffs will be announced shortly.

Rugby sevens, also known as seven-a-side, Sevens, 7s or VIIs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players, instead of the usual 15, with shorter matches. Rugby sevens is administered by World Rugby, the body responsible for rugby union worldwide. The game originated in Melrose where the Melrose Sevens tournament is still played annually. The game in an Olympic sport and is popular at all levels, with amateur and club tournaments generally held in the summer months. Sevens is one of the most well distributed forms of rugby, and is popular in parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

Commonwealth Games Federation Unveils Rugby Sevens Teams Invited To Line Up For Samoa 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games

The Commonwealth Games Federation today (Friday, January 23) with World Rugby unveiled the 14 international teams invited to compete for Gold in Rugby Sevens at the Samoa 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games.

The history-making line-up includes eight teams for the men’s tournament and six for the women’s tournament – the first time young female athletes will compete in a Rugby Sevens competition at a Commonwealth Youth Games.

Rugby Sevens is already a firm favourite with Commonwealth Games fans – with the two-day tournament at Glasgow 2014 attracting a 170,000 world-record breaking audience for the sport over the two days of competition. And with Rugby Sevens set to make its Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro next year, the young Rugby stars of the Commonwealth Youth Games will be looking to get an early foothold in the fast-paced sport which continues to grow and flourish on the global sporting stage.

The teams invited to go for Gold in the Men’s Tournament are: South Africa, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Cayman Islands, England, Fiji, Samoa and Australia.

And in the Women’s Tournament teams from Canada, Scotland, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands and Samoa are offered the chance to compete.

Making the announcement, David Grevemberg, Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation said:

“We’re delighted to unveil the Commonwealth nations and territories teams invited to compete in what is one of the world’s great international Rugby Sevens competitions for young athletes and we’re especially pleased to be making history by having the first women’s Rugby Sevens tournament at a Commonwealth Youth Games.”

Vitolio Lui, Chief Co-ordinator of the Samoa 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games said:

“Rugby Sevens is fast and furious contest with high point-scoring, hard hits and heroic sprints with just 14 minutes to win the game. It’s all about teamwork, skills and stamina and everyone’s got a job to do.

“Given the high quality of Rugby Sevens competition within the Commonwealth, we look forward to seeing some exciting and excellent performances in Samoa.”

World Rugby Chairman Bernard Lapasset added:

“Rugby Sevens is reaching out, attracting and inspiring new young audiences around the world. We are excited about our Commonwealth Youth Games opportunity to showcase the future global stars of the men’s and, for the first time, the women’s Rugby Sevens.

We are sure that the sport’s winning blend of breath-taking action, competitiveness and entertainment will prove a hit in rugby-mad Samoa.”

Commonwealth Games Associations from the selected nations and territories now have until March 01 to confirm whether they will take up their Rugby Sevens slots along with all the other sports in which they intend to compete.

World Rugby

The Samoa 2015 Youth Games takes place from September 5-11 and will involve around 1000 Young Commonwealth Athletes aged 14-18. This will be the fifth Commonwealth Youth Games with previous Games held in Isle of Man (2011), Pune India (2008), Bendigo, Australia (2004) and Edinburgh in Scotland (2000).

The Commonwealth Youth Games is often the first opportunity to see the next generation of top athletes in action on the world sporting stage. Such sporting successes include English athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill who won silver in the 100 Metre Hurdles and High Jump at the Bendigo 2004 Commonwealth Youth Games and then went on to win bronze in the Heptathlon at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. Since then, Jess won the gold medal in the Heptathlon at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Through sport there are great opportunities not only for serious competition and fun but also to play an active part in important areas such as diversity and citizenship. It’s a priority for the CGF to engage, inspire and to help young people realise their potential right across a Commonwealth connected through sport.

Nigerian Rugby Sevens team withdraws from Commonwealth Games in Glasgow

The Nigerian Rugby sevens team has withdrawn from the Commonwealth games coming up in Glasgow, Scotland.

In a country dominated by football, and with all other sports forced to live in the shadows of Nigeria’s major sports recent strides by the Nigerian Rugby Football Federation as not gone unnoticed.

One the major achievements of the Nigerian Rugby Football Federation is the facilitation of IRB certification for six coaches to level 2,
the NRFF also introduced the youth development initiative in which involves about 32 schools in Lagos state, add the fact that the Nigerian team missed out on a chance to take part in the 2013 IRB Sevens World Cup by one point, one can safely conclude that Nigerian Rugby was on an upward trajectory.

But All of these would pale in comparison to the qualification of the Nigerian Rugby Sevens team for the Big stage which is Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Nigeria was drawn in Pool A with Host Scotland, New Zealand, Canada. Pool had Kenya, Cook Islands, South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago. Malaysia Samoa, Wales, and Papua New Guinea made up Pool C and Pool D is made up of Australia, England, Uganda and Sri Lanka.

But what would have been the crowning glory for the sport of Rugby in Nigeria has now been taken away with Nigeria’s sudden withdrawal from the Rugby Sevens event of the Glasgow 2014 commonwealth games.

The Organisers have moved swiftly to replace the Nigerian team with Barbados who had earlier failed to qualify automatically for the commonwealth games.

The next Olympic games in Rio is the perfect setting for Rugby Sevens to make its debut as an Olympic sport, and the Commonwealth games in Glasgow would have been a big opportunity for Nigeria to announce her arrival to global audience. It’s not clear why the Nigerian team pulled out of the games in Glasgow but it is hoped that this would not adversely affect the recent growth of the game in Nigeria

Sola Rogers
@solarogers
+solarogers

Please send your sport stories and press releases to info@newfanzone.com or fanzone.fans@gmail.com