In a thrilling cup final of the Independence Rugby Sevens, Cowrie RFC of Lagos beat Barewa RFC of Kano 27-14 to win the trophy.
Fuelled by the support of an appreciative and a large number of expatriate crowd at the Onikan Stadium, Hafis Ayinla, Sani Halilu, John Oladele, Samuel Ekpo, Tunji Oduntan, Captain Azeez Ladipo and player of the tournament Christian Ogar inspired Cowrie to victory.
The emphatic victory handed a fifth Independence Sevens trophy in six years to the club who defeated last year’s cup winners Police Machines 10-5 in a breath taking semi final that went down to the wire. Police Machines had won all four of their matches before the semi final, but came up against a strong Cowries Team with seven different try scorers in the tournament to maintain their 100% record.
In the second semi final Barewa had knocked out Plateau Tigers of Jos 17-12 in another tight encounter. The third place play-off saw Police Machines return stronger to beat Plateau Tigers 22-7.
In other categories, Racing RFC went home with the plate silverware, narrowly defeating South South Select 12 – 10 in the plate final. They had suffered a 7-15 narrow defeat to Police Machines in the cup quarter final which compelled them to the plate semi finals where they claimed an easy victory against Royal Stallions RFC 29-5. Gosar RFC also went home with the Bowl after defeating Abia Buffalos 17-12 in the Bowl finals.
Lagos state Governor; Babatunde Raji Fashola also graced the electrifying event. The Governor gave a glamorous entrance landing in a helicopter on the pitch to present the trophy and awards.
Tournament Director and Technical Director of Nigeria Rugby Football Federation ‘Fasimoye Olatunji’ commended the sponsor CMB Building Maintenance and Investment Company Limited for their support towards the development of rugby in Nigeria; he also commended Friends Of Rugby (FOR) for initiating the tournament.
"I am impressed by the turnout of spectators and their support, now we know that Rugby has huge followership. Having the expatriate community, families and beautiful ladies as audience in attendance filled the event with excitement and jamboree. the tournament also gave us a platform to access and select players that will be called to camp for the Africa Cup 7’s Championship which is scheduled to take place in Zimbabwe on the 29th -30th of November 2014”.
No comments:
Post a Comment