By Benprince Ezeh

THE Nigerian Rugby Football Federation, NRFF, is ready to reposition the Nigerian Rugby team to compete among the best in the world. The federation is doing this by appointing Bronson Weir, South African, as head coach of the senior Men’s Rugby team.

Weir’s first major assignment is to lead Nigeria to the 2018 Africa Rugby Regional Sevens in Ivory Coast between September 15 and 16, this year. Nigeria’s participation in the forthcoming tournament is part of the federation’s move to relaunch the national Rugby team.

Kelechukwu Mbagwu, president, NRFF, during the unveiling of the new coach on August 4, said the board will focus on grassroots developmental programmes, create facilities that will take care of the players as well as offices for coaches, players and administrators to ease activities of the federation. According to him, the NRFF will ensure that the Northern and South-West leagues continue to grow.

He promised that the South-East and South-South would be given adequate support to improve its standard. “My vision is to spread rugby in the North, especially in the North-East of Borno and other states, which will help spread the gospel of peace in the region. My board would work closely with the state government to achieve this.

“If we can introduce the sport to four schools in Borno, we would have set up a system that will grow the game in the state. The school rugby programme is a very important aspect of the development of the game and we will work closely with I-Try, if they agree to work with us, to develop a more encompassing model.

“We want to see students taking to rugby as the game of choice while in JSS so that when they get to SSS they would have been in the game so much that they will be in the school team,” he said.

Mbagwu declared that national team invitation will be open to every Nigerian rugby player no matter where the person is based. He said the new NRFF will ensure there is no schism between the home-based players and those in the Diaspora. Besides, the NRFF president said his board will revive the women national team.

He noted that the exploits of the women team in international championships in the past showed that Nigeria has talents in the female game waiting to be tapped. He disclosed that his board will ensure that Nigeria starts hosting international competitions. He said talks were underway to resolve existing issues with Rugby Africa. He added that the federation has opened its Rugby House at 18, Ayinde Giwa Street, Surulere, Lagos for the smooth daily operations of rugby affairs in Nigeria.

It is understood that Nigeria was suspended from all international activities following a leadership crisis that trailed in last year’s election into the board of the federation. The suspension stopped Nigeria from featuring in some international engagements in 2017.

However, the suspension was unanimously lifted with immediate effect, following recommendations based on the outcome of investigation into the crisis, and the approval of the board’s Annual General Meeting, AGM, meeting held on March 3, 2018.

Debo Oshundun, member of the NRFF board, on Thursday, May 31, in an interview granted to News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, described the lifting of suspension on the body by Rugby Africa as a positive development.

“This is good news for rugby in Nigeria and we are happy to be back to the international scene. Getting back to the international scene shows that the board is keen on moving the sport to the right heights.

“The changes and recommendations carried out by the body on its constitution in line with advice from the African body was majorly responsible for the cheering development, I just want to urge stakeholders to rally round the board in taking the sport to the next level,” he said.

The NRFF was formed on May 6, 1998. The body is affiliated to the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Rugby Africa and World Rugby. Rugby is all about team games where two teams play in an 80-minute match and use an oval ball to try to score more points than the other team. A team is made up of 15 players, who are divided into forwards, who tend to be the bigger and stronger players that fight for possession of the ball, and the backs, who are the faster and more agile players that usually are the ones to score tries.

Players can run and kick the ball, but can only pass it backwards. There are three ways to score in Rugby: five points is when you score Try, this is where the ball is grounded over the opponent’s in-goal area. Three points is if a penalty is been awarded and it was successfully kicked through the post. Three points are also been given for a drop kick, this when a player drops the ball on the ground and kicks it through the goal post.

Lastly is the two points, which is usually awarded to teams for successful conversions. This is where a team can add further points after scoring a Try by kicking the ball through the post.

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– Aug. 29, 2018 @ 15:10 GMT |