Nigeria’s national men’s sevens team, the Stallions, endured a mixed opening day at the African Men’s Sevens Series in Kampala, Uganda, recording a resounding victory over Ghana before suffering a heavy defeat to Morocco.
The Stallions opened their campaign in impressive fashion, dominating the Ghana Black Eagles in a dominant display that ended with a 26-5 victory.
Nigeria set the tone from the start, dictating play and putting sustained pressure on the Ghanaian defence. Captain Oghenesuvwe Obano was particularly influential, providing a key attacking outlet as the Stallions established control on the field.
After taking a 14-5 lead, Nigeria continued to pile on the pressure and eventually forced Ghana into submission and sealed a convincing victory on the opening day.
However, the Stallions faced a much tougher challenge in their second match against Morocco, and the match proved to be a completely different proposition.
Despite expectations that Nigeria would give the Moroccans a tough contest, Morocco took control early and went into the break with a 14-5 lead.
Nigeria struggled to regain their footing after the break as Morocco increased the intensity and extended their lead to 26-5. The North Africans maintained their dominance until the final stages to take 36-5 winners.
With a win and a loss in their first two matches, the Stallions will now turn their attention to their final group match against Zimbabwe on Sunday.
Zimbabwe, considered one of the highest-rated teams in the competition, will offer Nigeria another important test as the Stallions look to gain momentum heading into the quarter-final matches.
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