Tororo, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A delegation representing all the Ugandan rugby clubs led thousands who participated in ceremonies as Patrick “Papa” Mileke Aredo was laid to rest at Mikiya, West Budama on Wednesday. Mileke,58, was not only father to three players – Erasmus Aredo, Gabriel Aredo and Joseph …
Read More »Kenyan 7s rugby players jailed 15 years for gang rape
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | A Kenyan court on Friday sentenced two rugby players to 15 years in prison for the gang rape of a female singer at a birthday party last year. The international rugby sevens players Frank Wanyama, 24, and Alex Olaba, 23, were earlier this month found …
Read More »Hopes and fears as Rugby World Cup warm-ups begin
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Excitement will be mixed with concern when four of Europe’s leading rugby nations begin their World Cup warm-up programme this weekend. Ireland play Italy in Dublin on Saturday, with England facing Wales at Twickenham a day later. While some players can be reasonably certain of …
Read More »Kolkata: birthplace of the Calcutta Cup, and still India’s rugby hub
Kolkata, India | AFP | When England and Scotland play rugby each year, the winner hoists the Calcutta Cup — a relic of the sport’s roots in India, and a nod to the city where it is still thriving to this day. In the 1870s, when the Calcutta Rugby Football Club …
Read More »Two-try debutant Herschel Jantjies stars for Springboks
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Debutant scrum-half Herschel Jantjies scored two tries as South Africa beat Australia 35-17 Saturday in the opening match of the Rugby Championship season in Johannesburg. The Western Stormers half-back claimed the first and fourth Springbok tries before being warmly applauded when substituted 14 minutes from …
Read More »Dung and Dragons: Myanmar kids dodge cows to play rugby
Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Sidestepping cowpats and garbage, Myanmar’s only home-grown junior rugby side train on the outskirts of Yangon, preparing to take on children from the city’s well-heeled international schools. When the Little Dragons aren’t running barefoot on the litter-strewn dirt, the makeshift field on the outskirts of Yangon is sometimes …
Read More »Orphan goes from sniffing ‘Rugby’ glue to playing for the Philippines
Manila, Philippines | AFP | Long before Lito Ramirez was one of the Philippines’ first homegrown rugby stars he was a six-year-old orphan addicted to sniffing glue, who survived on trash and begging. If there was any luck in his hellish world, it was that the brand of glue he and …
Read More »Rugby cranes to camp in Cape Town ahead of world cup 7s
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda Rugby Cranes will camp in Cape Town, South Africa ahead of the 2018 Rugby World Cup 7s. Ramzy Olinga, the Chief Executive Officer of the Uganda Rugby Union (URU) told URN on Wednesday that the team will have 10 days of training at the …
Read More »Kenyan rugby sevens duo face gang rape charges
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Two Kenyan rugby sevens players, Frank Wanyama and Alex Olaba, appeared in a Nairobi court on Monday charged with the February gang rape of a female singer. Wanyama, 23, who captained Kenya’s second sevens team to win the Victoria Sevens tournament in Zimbabwe in March, and …
Read More »RUGBY: Uganda beats Chile and Georgia, faces Germany in quarters
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | After winning two of their three games on the opening day, Uganda Rugby Sevens take on fancied Germany in the World Series Qualifiers quarter-finals of the Hong Kong 7s on Saturday. Led by tries by Phillip Wokorach, Uganda beat Chile 14-10, beat Georgia …
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