The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Olatunji Fasimoye

  • Rugby announces new date for Africa bronze cup

    Rugby announces new date for Africa bronze cup

    Rugby Africa on Tuesday announced new dates in May for the Africa Bronze Cup earlier scheduled for March in Cameroon, the Nigerian Rugby Football Federation’s (NRFF) Media Department has said.

    The tournament which will feature Nigeria, Algeria and Cameroon, scheduled for March 17 to March 26, will now hold from May 7 to May 13.

    The NRFF which announced the dates in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos, said that the tier three event now known as “Bronze Cup’’ will consist of six teams, divided into Group North and Group South.

    The Northern group consists of Nigeria, runners up of 2016’s Division 1C, Algeria and Cameroon both returning after not competing in the competition in 2016.

    The southern group tournament which will take place immediately after that of the north will be made up of Zambia, relegated from Division 1B, Mauritius from Division 1C and Rwanda.

    Rwanda recently attained full membership of World Rugby and only one team with most points will climb up to the Silver Cup in 2018.

    The statement quoted Olatunji Fasimoye, the Olatunji Fasimoye as saying that Nigeria had huge opportunity to be promoted this year judging by level of its players’ development.

    “Already we have been going round scouting for players and we will open camp early in April in preparation for the event.

    “We will be engaging mostly the home-based players following our quest to develop the sport locally which has paid off in so many aspects,’’ the statement quoted Fasimoye as saying.

  • Nigeria eyes top five finish at 2016 Africa rugby cup

    Nigeria eyes top five finish at 2016 Africa rugby cup

    • Draws Kenya, Senegal

    Nigeria’s national rugby team – The Black Stallions believes they can surpass their eighth place finish in 2015 with a top five target after been drawn in Group A against four-time champion, Kenya and Senegal in the 2016 Africa Rugby Cup Sevens holding in Nairobi this weekend.

    In the draw late on Monday in Nairobi,  host and the second ranked team in Africa, Kenya will be aiming to claim the title again as they battle Nigeria and Senegal in Group A of the competition which kicks off on Friday at the Safaricom Stadium, Kasarani.

    As the Nigeria team departs on Tuesday for the championship, the Technical Director of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF), Olatunji Fasimoye, believes the quality of Kenyan team has continued to reflect in their global performance following the investment on the sport by the Kenyan government, while adding that they are optimistic of a good outing in the championship.

    “I think we are growing in Nigeria because in 2014, we finished 12th while last year we were eight and this year we are hoping to make it to the top five in the tournament. This goes to show that we want to continue to improve on our performance. The Kenyan team is a strong side because they have really invested in the sport. They are the favourite but we are not going to look at that when we take them on as our target is to continue to improve and this is also based on funding which we have been lacking. With good funding, we can have good preparation and take part in more tournaments but the team we are taking to Kenya is dominated by local-based players and we hope they can make the country proud,” Fasimoye said.

    Also, captain of Black Stallions, Azeez Ladipo believes with the quality of their training in the last one week, they can improve on their previous outings in the championship.

    The top teams in each group progress to the semifinal stage while others compete for classification.

  • Rugby: Nigeria will excel in Zimbabwe-Director

    Rugby: Nigeria will excel in Zimbabwe-Director

    The Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) through its Technical Director, Olatunji Fasimoye, has expressed confidence in the Nigerian team towards the 2014 Confederation of African Rugby (CAR).

    Reports from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) disclosed that the Sevens Championships is being hosted by Zimbabwe and scheduled to hold between 29th and 30th of November .

    After a training session with players on Thursday in Lagos ahead of the tournament, Fasimoye assured Nigerians that the team would surpass its 6th best position in Rugby 7’s in Africa.

    The Rugby director said: “We are determined to raise the bar this time and if possible come down to the first position in the continent.

    ‘‘Our contingent will be made-up of champions from the Independence Rugby 7’s Championship held at the Onikan Stadium Lagos on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 to commemorate Nigeria’s independence anniversary.”

    Having hired a South African tutor to brace up for the tournament, Fasimoye opined that the championship in Zimbabwe would afford the federation an opportunity to assess the competence of the foreign trainer.

    The technical director, who confirmed that all arrangements had been concluded for the team to depart for Harare in seven days time to begin the event on a sound-footing, disclosed that the team had in the last one week been receiving comprehensive training at the National Stadium, Surulere.

    He therefore expressed a strong belief in the team saying that the players were good to go.

    The twelve countries expected at the tournament include Ivory Coast, Uganda, Kenya, Tunisia, Namibia and Senegal.

    Other countries that would be competing at the event are Madagascar, Botswana, Zambia, Nigeria, South Africa and the host, Zimbabwe.

     

  • NRFF hails inaugural South-South/East League

    NRFF hails inaugural South-South/East League

    Technical Director of the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF), Olatunji Fasimoye has lauded the efforts of Friends of Rugby and the New Board in ensuring the spread of the sport throughout the country as the inaugural South-South/South East League kicked off over the weekend with four teams vying for the championship.

    The first ever league game in South-South/Eastern Nigeria took place at Michael Okpara University Stadium in Umuahia with  Imo Wild Cats RFC of Owerri defeating Bufalo RFC of Abia 15-10 in an end to end encounter. Delta RFC will hit the road to play against Edo RFC in the next fixture.

    Imo Wild Cats currently sits on the log with four points.

    The South-West Rugby Union League resumed over the weekend following a two-month break and Cowrie Rugby Club were on top of their game despite spirited opposition from Racing Rugby Club, running in four tries on their way to a 26 – 8 victory.

    The first match of the day saw Hawkster Athletics RFC producing one of their most battling performances of the season to earn a hard-fought 5-0 win over Lagos Rugby Club.

    In other games, the strength of Royal Stallions Rugby Club was too much for Eco II Rugby Club as the Ilorin boys ran 50-3 riot over Eco II, while Police Machines outmuscled a predominantly young and determined Gosar Rugby Club 19-3 in the last match of the day.

    Cowrie are now six points clear at the top of the log with 25 points, followed by Police Machines with 19 points and Racing Rugby with 17 points. Hawksters Athletics moved up to fifth with 10 points while Eco II is still at the bottom with no point.

    After three rounds of matches at the Northern Rugby Union League, Zaria RFC remains unbeaten so far with three wins out of three. They sit at the top of the log with 13 points followed closely by Barewa RFC with 10 points, while Kano RFC sits at the bottom of the log with no point.