Stallions, Niger Republic to meet in friendly, Nigeria set to host Africa Sevens qualifiers 

Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) has lined up a friendly game with Niger Republic to get the Black Stallions ready for the Africa Sevens Rugby qualifiers, which it will host from September 15 to 16. 

According to Black Stallions captain, Azeez Ladipo, the African qualifiers, which will feature six teams, including Algeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire and Togo, will be a platform for the country to return to international championships after its recent suspension. 

Ladipo also disclosed that that the Nigerian side would play the warm up tie against Niger in Niamey to prepare well for the qualifiers. 

He added that NRFF president, Kelechukwu Mbagwu was working round the clock to increase the awareness of rugby by reengineering the ‘Get into rugby programme’ aimed at discovering talents in schools and streets at the grassroots level. 

He added that more coaches would be trained to get acquainted with the modern trends in the sport. 

“The world body has mandated the board to play a friendly game with Niger Republic to prepare the team for the African Sevens qualifiers which Nigeria is in high contention to host.

“The date for the Niger friendly has not yet been announced, but we believe that booking the ticket for the African Championship slated to take place in Tunisia on October 13 and 14 will pave way for the country to gain promotion in Africa rugby.

“The president and his board is striving very hard to get more sponsors to key in to rugby. Now, most of the players that will take part in the Niger friendly will come from the domestic league. Their foreign counterparts will be included in the team in subsequent engagements.”

Meanwhile, the league kicked off on a good note at the weekend with Racing Rugby Club beating Gosars RFC to lead the league log.

Defending champions, Cowrie RFC young stars also outshined Police RFC in one of the league games held at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) pitch, National Stadium, Lagos.