Sport Public Eye
May 18, 2018
Likatola hang on NEO SENOKO
M
ASERU - Following a secondrate showing at the Rugby Africa Bronze Cup tournament in Ghana last week, the senior national rugby side Likatola have been given a lifeline to win the upcoming Rugby Sevens tournament to remain in the Bronze category for next season. Likatola failed to qualify for the silver category when they succumbed to two hefty defeats at the hands of Mauritius and Ruanda in Ghana. In the first encounter, they went down 49-16 against Mauritius before failing to redeem themselves in their second clash when Rwanda shattered their dreams with a 32-22 thumping. In essence Likatola have not only missed a golden opportunity to get promoted to the silver category but have also been relegated from bronze to the regional challenge. They were supposed to win their last match against Ruanda in order to remain in the Bronze category. However, all is not lost for the national team as they have been given a lifeline to at least remain in the Bronze category with the hope of finally making it into Silver section in their next attempt. In order to achieve that feat, Likatola should win the Rugby Sevens tournament scheduled for September where they will meet some of the toughest contenders in the region. Likatola assistant coach Moleleki Moleleki told Public Eye that his charges have put their Ghana performance behind and are ready to focus on the Sevens tourney as that is their only chance to stay in the bronze category. “We have to use all the ammunition in
our arsenal to remain in the Bronze category in spite of not doing well in Ghana. I believe we have gained enough experience which can help us achieve our goal,” Moleleki said in an interview with Public Eye on Tuesday. Moleleki who is himself a former Likatola player has cited several challenges they encountered in Ghana. Among others, he touched on the team’s lack of experience and extremely hot temperatures as their major setbacks during the competition. “The first time experience also worked against us because we learnt some crucial aspects of the tournament as the games proceeded, the weather condition was also not friendly and fatigue bothered us a lot. If you look at our first game against Mauritius, we went to halftime leading, however things changed in the second half as soon as fatigue set in,” he said. He added: “In our next game we tried to lower the tempo of the game in a bid to generate less heat ourselves but it was still too much for us. We are, however, gratified over the opportunity we got to fight over a spot in the category, there is no doubt we have what it takes to be there.” While funds were another challenge the team faced ahead of the Ghana trip, Moleleki could nonetheless not be drawn to go into details on how that drawback affected them. “I do not want to blame our performance on the finances but it is worth noting that the team could not go to camp due to lack of funds. “And we did not know whether we were going to participate in the tournament or not until the last minute when we were told that our plane tickets were ready. So it obviously affected our mental strength but I do not want to complain about such issues,” he said.