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By: Abiodun Adewale.
Nigeria’s men’s rugby national team, the Black Stallions, lost the final of the Africa’s Men’s sevens pre-qualifying series 20-5 to Algeria in Mauritius on Sunday, but still pick a ticket for Africa’s Paris 2024 Olympics qualifiers which will be held in Zimbabwe.
The pre-qualifier was a two-day tournament with 12 teams in action.
After recording a 20-12 victory over Ivory Coast in the semi-finals earlier on Sunday, the Black Stallions were brushed aside by the North Africans who just like Nigeria had an impeccable unbeaten record from the group stages.
On their way to the final of the pre-qualifying series, the Black Stallions hammered Ghana 24-7, trounced Burundi 43-14 before destroying Congo 43-0 in the group stage before seeing off Botswana 33-5 in the quarter-finals.
Algeria, Nigeria and Ivory Coast will all participate in the Olympic qualifiers which will hold from September 16 to 17 in Zimbabwe.
“We did really well. It was impressive, it shows that we prepared hard for this and I like how the game went. Our aim was to be in the top three and qualify for Zimbabwe, anything above that would have been a bonus,” General Manager of the Nigeria Rugby Federation, Azeez Ladipo said.
The winner of the Africa Cup Sevens in Zimbabwe will qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris while the second and third placed teams progress to the 2024 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament.
Also, the top two teams will qualify for the 2024 Challenger Series.
