National team rugby captain, Azeez Ladipo has described the failure to pick a ticket for the 2020 Olympics as unfortunate after the Black Stallions failed to record a win at the 2019 Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens in South Africa but believes there were positives for Nigeria Rugby.
The black stallions faced tough tests against African champions, Zimbabwe , Madagascar and Zambia at the 2019 Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens, Azeez told brila.net “We lost a couple of players to injuries and the players that came in could not fit into the system after losing the team, but luckily for us we are not where we used to be 2 years ago.
Nigeria was banned, we were not playing but we are back in the toppings now and have automatically qualified for the next Africa Cup Sevens by finishing eighth.”
The Black Stallions participated in the competition for the first time since 2016 following a ban on Nigeria by World Rugby in 2017.
He also added that the team’s experience will count for the team ahead of the 15’s game against Madagascar in Antananarivo on December 1st, 2019 but has called for better preparation.
“We learned a lot playing Madagascar was a good experience they are a rugby nation, We’ve seen how they play and I hope we get better preparation and get good players, flights have been booked so our participation is confirmed and the list of players for the game will be released soon.”
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