By Morris Rawal
Uganda will face Samoa in their opening match in the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022, The tournament is held from September 9–11 at Cape Town Stadium.
The African champions, Uganda Sevens are making their second appearance on the world stage.
They hope to improve upon their 18th-place performance in the last (2018) competition held in San Francisco, USA.
Coach Tolbert Onyango of Uganda Sevens says his team is ready for the task.
“Cape Town has been lovely so far. It’s now game time. Ready or not, here we come! We have put in enough work,” Onyango told the media
On day one, the qualification phase for the 24-team men’s competition begins with teams seeded from nine to 24.
While the losers will compete in the Bowl competition, which determines positions 17 to 24, the qualification round winners will advance to the round of 16 where they will face the top eight-seeded teams.
Uganda Sevens will play the United States in the round of 16 if they defeat Samoa.
Nineteenth seeds Ireland, who has been dominant in the World Series this year, will face Portugal in the qualification round.
Portugal defeated core Series team Spain in the European qualifier to secure their spot in Cape Town.
In the qualification phase, where survival is at stake, Germany and Chile, who have both excelled as invitational teams in the World Series, will meet off.
South Africa, the tournament’s hosts, was seeded first in the men’s competition after a historic 36-match winning streak that saw them win six consecutive World Series rounds from 2021 to 2022.
However, they will have tough competition since Fiji, a two-time Olympic champion, and Australia, are seeded second and third, respectively.
The defending men’s champions from New Zealand are seeded sixth going into the competition.
Uganda’s Squad
Michael Wokorach (captain), Ian Munyani (vice-captain), Desire Ayera, Aaron Ofoywroth, Adrian Kasito, Timothy Kisiga, Philip Wokorach, Alex Aturinda, Ivan Otema, Karim Arinaitwe, Nobert Okeny, William Nkore.
Fixtures
Pre-round of 16 Friday 9, September 2022
Ireland vs Portugal 9.45am
Canada vs Zimbabwe 10.07am
Samoa vs Uganda 10.29am
Scotland vs Jamaica 10.51am
Kenya vs Tonga 11.23am
Wales vs Korea 11.45am
Hong Kong vs Uruguay 12.07pm
Germany vs Chile 12.29pm
Round of 16
England vs Winner M1 3.39pm
France vs Winner M2 4.02pm
USA vs Winner M3 4.39pm
New Zealand vs Winner M4 5.01pm
Argentina vs Winner M5 5.23pm
Australia vs Winner M7 5.45pm
Fiji vs Winner M67.05pm
South Africa vs Winner M8 8.03pm.