Rugby Operations Director, Babatunde Deolu, boasts Nigeria’s growing potential

The Director of Operations of Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF), Babatunde Adeolu boasts of a positive verdict about what he believes is an ascending swing that the country is achieving in sandy sport.

Although many critics argue that the Nigerian impact on sport is still far from vibrant, Babatunde insists that the country’s recent departure in the Rugby 7S Rugby Championship of Africa showed great improvements for the nation.

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Sports247 reports that Nigeria’s stallions lost one of their 5-17 games against South Africa, but Babatunde pointed out that the margin of defeat was not as broad as it used to be at such a high level and against a very formidable opponent.

The Operations Officer also declared his delight with how the stallions finally placed the seventh place at the end of the competition, which he emphasized was won through a great demonstration of determination by the players, who could recover from their defeat of the opening day against the South Africans.

He said: “We show many promises of the first game, which we play against the boks, which are world champions in Rugby 15s, and are a very formidable side in the 7.

“Although we lost to South Africa 5-17 points, we could see that the Nigerian team had really improved from where we were a couple of years ago.”

The rugby guru then threw his eyes into the future and expressed his optimism that, despite a recent suspension, Nigeria’s impact continues to grow by leaps and bounds, due to the presence of many emerging talents throughout the country.

“The performance of our team will be better appreciated when taking into account other problems. For example, we must not forget that we have just returned from a long ban.

“Despite the long absence, our efforts in this competition have seen us go from 11 to fifth in just two years. That shows that there is a lot of potential in the team and in Nigeria when it comes to the rugby game,” Babatunde said.

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