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16 teams confirmed for Independence Rugby Sevens tourney

By Alex Monye
12 October 2015   |   11:59 pm
Sixteen teams have confirmed their participation in the seventh edition of the Independence Rugby Sevens International Tournament billed to hold at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos, on October 24 and 25.

Rugby-hostelbookersSixteen teams have confirmed their participation in the seventh edition of the Independence Rugby Sevens International Tournament billed to hold at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos, on October 24 and 25.

Nigeria’s top rugby teams and their counterparts from other parts of the continent will be part of the event, which, according to the organisers, will see the special appearance of the president of Rugby Union, Thelo Wakefield.

Champions of the South West 2015 Rugby League, Cowrie RFC and 2014 runners up, Barewa RFC, will battle with such top teams as Western Province Rugby team from South Africa, Ultimate Rugby 7s (Kenya), Panthers Internationals and Merlins Invitational from the United Kingdom.

Other teams from Nigeria include Police Machine RFC, Plateau Tigers RFC, Kaduna RFC and Racing RFC.

Accra Sharks from Ghana, Parakou RFC from Benin Republic, Gosar RFC, Sabon Gari RFC, South-South 7s and South East 7s will also feature in the tournament.

President of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF), Sir Edward Pam, stated that the rugby sevens championship would prepare Nigerian players for the 2016 Olympic qualifiers slated for South Africa later this year.

“The tournament is organised by Friends of Rugby. It started in 2009 and has been held annually to commemorate Nigeria’s independence anniversary.

“Aside the commemoration of Nigeria’s Independence, we will also use the tournament to prepare our players playing for their various clubs for the Olympic qualifiers billed to hold by November in South Africa. The Nigeria rugby national team are grouped alongside Zimbabwe who emerged fourth at the end of the recently concluded Safari 7s, Uganda and Zambia,’’ he said.

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