Nigeria Rugby to Camp in England ahead of Olympic Games qualifiers

Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) is planning to camp the senior men's national team, the Black Stallions, in England before the qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games take place in Mauritius the following month.

Pulse Sports reported that the Black Stallions are competing against Ghana, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and they are aiming for a top-three finish to advance to the next round of the tournament, the Africa Cup Sevens, which will be held in Zimbabwe.

Nigeria will face Ghana in their opening match before facing Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in their last Group A match of the qualifications. With the confluence of players based in the United Kingdom under Coach Temitope Okenla, Nigeria began its preparation for the qualifiers in early May.

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Meanwhile, the newly appointed Black Stallions' coach, Steve Lewis, has been in charge of other players with bases in Europe, the United States of America, and Nigeria.

The majority of the chosen players are anticipated to report to a closed camp before departing for Mauritius for the first round of qualifying. On June 24 and 25, 12 nations will compete for the four available spots in the Africa Cup Sevens tournament, which takes place in Zimbabwe in September, in the Mauritius leg of the qualifiers.

The participating countries are Mauritius, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Botswana, Cameroun, Algeria and Nigeria. Others are Burundi, Congo, Lesotho, Senegal and Egypt.

According to NRFF General Manager, Azeez Ladipo, the United Kingdom-based players who were chosen for the qualifications would join their international counterparts to start qualifying for the tournament.

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“The UK camp is to enable the foreign-based players have easy access to converge and prepare for the games without stress.

“More details on the preparations would be announced this week by the Rugby Federation,” he said.

Recall that NRFF named Scotsman Steve Lewis as the new head coach of the country’s senior national team.