Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

NRFF names Scot, Steve Lewis, as national teams’ coach 

By Alex Monye 
12 May 2023   |   3:53 am
The Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) has announced the appointment of Scot, Steve Lewis, as head coach of the national teams. Speaking on Nigeria’s pardon and re-admission into the international scene by World Rugby, NRFF’s president, Dr. Ademola Are, said Lewis’ first assignment would be to lead the men’s and women’s Sevens teams to the…

Nigeria Rugby Football

The Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) has announced the appointment of Scot, Steve Lewis, as head coach of the national teams. Speaking on Nigeria’s pardon and re-admission into the international scene by World Rugby, NRFF’s president, Dr. Ademola Are, said Lewis’ first assignment would be to lead the men’s and women’s Sevens teams to the 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers in Mauritius and Zambia in June and July respectively.

He also noted that the national teams’ presence in the competitions is symbolic, as it would be the country’s first activities on the international scene since 2019.

Are enthused that Lewis would revamp Nigeria’s rugby, while admitting that the forthcoming championships would be big tests for the new coach.

“The Olympic Games pre-qualifiers are the pathway for Nigeria’s participation at Paris 2024 Olympics, he said, adding that 12 countries would converge on Mauritius from June 24 to 25 to compete for the available four slots in the Africa Cup Sevens slated for Zimbabwe in September. 

He disclosed that participating countries include Mauritius, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Botswana, Cameroun, Algeria and Nigeria. Others include Burundi, Congo, Lesotho, Senegal and Egypt
 
“Nigeria’s women Sevens and other African teams will converge on Zambia on July 1 and 2 to compete for the available three slots in the Africa Women’s Cup Sevens slated for Tunisia in October,” Are said.
 
Reacting to his appointment as the country’s coach, Lewis promised to lift the national teams to a higher level, adding that he would “lay good foundations for a new generation of Nigerian players and coaches.” 
 
Lewis, who is not a stranger to Nigerian rugby, coached the Black Stallions 10 years ago, from 2012 and 2013. Under his watch, Nigeria qualified for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games against all odds. 

Lewis, who was named U.S.’ rugby coach of the year in 2016 and 2019, had also coached Jamaica’s Sevens team up to the World Challenger Series -Olympic Repechage – in 2020.

Before his recruitment by the NRFF, he was a technical consultant to a much-improved Brazil national team, as well as director of rugby at championship winning New York Major League Rugby Club. 

In this article

0 Comments