Nigeria has moved up 13 places in the latest Rugby Sevens ranking released by Rugby Afrique.
This was coming on the backdrop of recent performances by Nigeria’s men senior national team at the just concluded Rugby Sevens Pre-Olympic Qualifiers in Mauritius.
The Black Stallions jumped up from 24th in Africa to 11th in the latest ranking released by the body.
The Black Stallions who made it to the final following their impressive wins from the group stage to the final where they lost 24 – 5 to Algeria
Nigeria defeated Ghana 24 -7 in the opening match before beating Burundi 43 -14 and in the last group match blew apart Congo 43-0
However, in the quarter-final, the Coach Steve Lewis-led team thrashed Botswana 33-5 to qualify for semi-final where they met a highly determined Cote D’Ivoire side who also fell to the fire power of the Stallions 20-12
Nigeria’s defeat to Algeria was the first and only setback they had in the pre-qualifier in Mauritius.
Nigeria will hope to make it to the Olympics when they join Uganda, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Namibia, madagascar, Tunisia, Kenya, and South Africa, Algeria and Cote D’Ivoire at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe in September
The Nigerian team was made up of eight new debutants: Awobowale Olukolade Mobolaji – (Stallions RFC), Esiri Aaron – Asher Chinedu – (Bournvile RFC), Goualin Pierre Henri – (Old Priorians RFC), Henry-Ajudua Chukwuyem Frederick – (Atlanta Major League Rugby), Ilube Matthew Maurice – (Old Priorians RFC),.
Others are: Lipede Adenekan Jojoola – (Old Colfeians RFC), Odunlami Oluwadara Olufewa – (University of Bath RFC) and Onyeahasi Alexander George (Clifton), Ono Jatto, Gabriel John, Declan Nwachukwu and David Aniebonam