It was another fairytale, Uganda Rugby Cranes 7s captain Lawrence Ssebuliba grabbed the most spectacular try in the Cape Town 7s tournament against Australia. And by close of Day Two – Sunday December 11, 2016, Uganda 7s rounded off the weekend in South Africa with a 19-10 defeat to Canada in the 13th place playoffs of the money-spinning tournament.
FAN FAVOURITE: Uganda may have lost to Australia on day two, but Lawrence Ssebuliba’s try brought the #CapeTowns7s crowd to their feet! pic.twitter.com/0nOCPQZZ55
— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) December 11, 2016
Sebuliba did not steal the headlines alone, alongside his compatriot Philip Wokorach, the Kyadondo dwellers were incorporated into the Top Performance Trackers for the 2016 Cape Town 7s and stand at positions fourth and fifth respectively behind winners England’s Dan Norton, USA’s Perry Bates and Billy Odhiambo of Kenya.
RE:LIVE: Uganda’s Philip Wokorach scores a belter against @usarugby at the #Dubai7s (+ dab to celebrate) 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/WhMsMZ0IaH
— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) December 2, 2016
The defeat 19-10 defeat to Canada meant Uganda finished in position 14 out of the 16 teams that participated with two points ahead of Japan and Samoa. The next tournament they will feature in will be the World Sevens Series qualifiers to be held during the Hong Kong Sevens later in the season.
The African Rugby Sevens Champions style of play has won the hearts of many fans in the first two legs of the 2016-2017 World Rugby Sevens Series of Dubai and Cape Town with one major coach, Ben Ryan, formerly of Fiji, saying on Sunday December 11, 2016 in South Africa during the Cape Town Sevens, “The team that I am falling in love with is Uganda Sevens. They are amazing. Uganda are the exciting team of the series thus far, so much potential.”
“The team that I am falling in love with is Uganda Sevens. They are amazing. Uganda are the exciting team of the series thus far, so much potential.”
Ben Ryan is a rugby union coach who is best known for having coached the Fiji sevens to two Sevens World Series titles and a gold medal in sevens rugby at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
During the 2016 Cape Town 7s tournament, Uganda played six matches out of which they lost five and won one against Japan.
They opened proceedings by losing 29-7 to Wales, 38-7 to Scotland and 29-5 to Samoa in the pool matches before losing 42-12 to Australia in challenge trophy quarters. Uganda went ahead to beat Japan 21-17 in the 13th trophy semis before falling 19-10 to Canada.
The Performance Tracker
After two rounds, Dan Norton leads the DHL Rugby sponsored Performance Tracker for the series which celebrates the efforts of the players. Live performance data is recorded and analysed for each match covering the four award criteria:
Tackles – when a player legally brings an opposition player with the ball to the ground
Offloads – when a player releases a pass whilst one or more of the opposition team are in the process of attempting to tackle them
Carries – when a player carries the ball forwards for a distance of more than 3 metres
Line-breaks – when a player penetrates the opposition defensive line
The DHL Performance Tracker awards one point to a player each time they successfully complete an action (Tackle, Offload, Carry, Line-break). At each tournament, the player with the most points wins the DHL Impact Player Award.
To recognise Impact across the 2016-17 Series, the player with the highest score across their eight best tournaments will be crowned DHL Impact Player of the Series. The 2015-16 Series saw Fijian Jasa Veremalua take home the trophy.
Richard Njeru/Ragahouse
