Barthes Trophy: Better preparation will deliver better results for Uganda
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Loading... - Bupe Ramadhani
- 05 May 2023
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On the surface, Uganda performed worse in 2023 than it had done in 2022 during the Rugby Africa U20 Barthes Trophy. They finished seventh out of eight teams, one place below last year’s ranking.
Despite travelling with better-prepared and more skilled individuals, Uganda barely played as a team, with the character and style the country is known to exhibit. It was a lukewarm campaign where they did just enough to guarantee survival for next year’s edition.
However, a closer look at the numbers and watching replays of the matches shows that Uganda actually performed better this year than they did in 2022. They scored more tries and conceded fewer in a field where almost every participating nation entered with an improved team.
| Tries Scored | Tries Conceded | Total Points Scored | Total Points Conceded | |
| 2023 | 7 | 13 | 54 | 82 |
| 2022 | 4 | 14 | 57 | 97 |
There were several moments when the team made the wrong decisions in the wrong places and picked the wrong battles at the wrong time. These would ultimately cost them precious points and opportunities to take control of matches.
But when everything clicked, there were flashes of what the team had to offer. Case in point, the match-winning try scored by winger Rodney Mugume in the 7/8th place playoff final against Madagascar.
Uganda found their groove in Nairobi when it was too late. They played the last ten minutes against Madagascar how everybody expected them to play from the first minute against Kenya. Read More…
