Invest In Schools’ Rugby

By Johnson Were

The future of Uganda Rugby lies in the hands of strong age-grade rugby competitions and without them there cannot be a good performance on the international stage.

According to Rugby Cranes fullback Philip Wokorach, the Uganda Rugby Union has to invest in schools’ rugby as a move to nurturing talent at an early age.

Wokorach, who plays professional rugby in the French league for AS Bédarrides-Châteauneuf-du-Pape as a fullback, noted that the success of Cranes now is as a product of the school’s rugby way back.

“The 2007 team won the Africa Cup because it originated from a strong schools’ league which produced good players including Timothy Mudoola, Alex Mubiru, Dr. Stone Lugya and Dr. Felix Lubega,” Wokorach said.

He added that even his generation was a product of schools’ rugby, but to date, you cannot identify those promising players in the schools’ league that will replace them.

“We used to have stiff competition. I was at City High, but schools like Hana Mixed School, Seroma High School, Kololo and Bishops were strong rugby schools outside the traditional ones which are Namilyango, SMACK and Budo,” he explained.

Wokorach also contends that Ramsey Olinga as school rugby development manager and former School Rugby Association chairman Ronald Mutebi were very active, today he cannot tell who is in charge of schools’ rugby.

He noted that all the current stars are a product of schools’ rugby, but you can now hardly identify who are the next stars to replace them.

The former Heathens Rugby Club player stressed that unless schools’ rugby is revived and clubs get quality players, the national teams will remain too weak to compete on the international stage with leading countries.