The Junior Rugby Cranes of Uganda have survived the chop with a 21-17 come-from-behind victory over the Junior Makis of Madagascar in the U20 Barthes Trophy 7th place playoff on Sunday in Nairobi. Both sides came into this game feeling the heat seeing as they both finished higher up in the standings in 2022.
The loser of the 7th place playoff at the U20 Barthes Trophy drops to the repechage game and the Junior Makis looked keen to avoid heading that way when they raced to a 12- 5 lead at halftime.
Uganda came back to the second half with intent as they put 16 points on the board to Madagascar’s 5 points. Uganda would have had more points on the board were it not for the wastefulness of their kickers. This wastefulness would set up a frantic final 10 minutes but eventually, Coach Emmanuel Katuntu’s boys would hold their own until the final whistle.
Speaking to the media after the game, an excited coach Katuntu could not hide his joy for surviving. “(Surviving the drop) It feels so nice, the pressure is now off.”
“We just had to dig deep and believe in ourselves because we had it in us to come back. It is just that a few things were not going right so in the second half we settled and we managed to come back and win,” added coach Katuntu on his side’s second-half performance.
Uganda will now count their lucky stars and try to work on some of the things that did not go their way for this tournament and coach Katuntu believes early preparations will be key as they prepare for the 2024 U20 Barthes Trophy.
“We will definitely build on this and ensure that we start our preparations much earlier so that we have a better group that we can come back with for the next tournament,” concluded coach Katuntu.
Despite their poor finish in the tournament, Uganda will be looking to build on the mercurial performances of captain Calvin Gizamba as well as that of Arnold Jones Ocen and Arthur Opio.
