Are the Cranes capable of better?
The Test season is slowly receding in the rear view mirror for the Rugby Cranes, with the security of a third place finish – guaranteed participation in the 2019 edition of the Gold Cup and also a marginally negative win rate. Of five (5) games played, two (2) were won and three (3) were lost. A regression from 2017, where the Cranes won three (3), drew and lost one each of five games played. A second consecutive third place finish was all but guaranteed at the penultimate round of fixtures.
That is the kind of feeling many Cranes fans have. One of stagnation. The Cranes are firmly in the middle of nowhere. Neither challenging the top two dogs nor breaking sweat against the other side of the table. So basically Cranes headline tier two of the gold cup.
Rugby Cranes fans cheering on during one of the Gold Cup matches
Are the Cranes capable of better? Two schools of thought will interpret this differently.
With the resource gap, the Cranes can simply watch the other top nations enjoy success after success while they are stuck with the begging bowl. The Cranes always cut a forlorn figure of the poor cousin. Since money is the main adjective, the national side, have no business competing against Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Botswana. Since the Cranes barely smell a whiff of these sides on pitch and their budgets are just bigger, the money factor is a small syndication.
A lot has been said of contracts and the inability of the management to respect them. A motley crew of persons in management with opaque accountability structures, forgetting health insurance, have always had the Cranes limp in and out of competition grumbling. The question is, do these people have the basic competence to lift the side from one level to another? Do they continue in office for the next cycle of the World cup qualification or have they learnt from experience and can perform in a more distinguished manner?
Coaching. Robert Sseguya and John Duncan have handled the Cranes for the last half of the decade. They picked the Cranes from the bottom of the second tier of African rugby and have made them a respectable member of the top tier. The Cranes have run Kenya close including a memorable draw in Nairobi, broken the invincibility of the Namibians, made light work of erstwhile formidable rivals from North Africa. Capped a new crop of Cranes who are providing a back bone of the national side.
John Duncan taking the rugby cranes through a drill.
Still a lot of grumbles persisted about their professionalism.
Many caps happened due to unavailability of players. Some players who left claimed the management was bereft of truth in contract management, others squarely accused the coaching staff of bias. Most of the new caps seemed to happen to players’ affiliated to Kyadondo rugby club while more capable ones from elsewhere are left out. Some players left the fold when there was general consensus that it wasn’t yet their time to retire.
The Cranes also failed to show a consistent display of discipline and conditioning on pitch, which has to come from their interaction with their respective Clubs not the National team. A lack of pathways from one level to another showed. Much as every club has a first centre, the National team had to borrow a loose forward to take care of business in the middle.
Management has elected to eliminate her feeder systems, which included the Barbarians and the U 20 National teams while life is slowly seeping away from the Schools system. Of course this will bear fruit in the next cycle as this generation of Cranes start having to phase out. With the relegation of Makerere Impis, University rugby is officially dead. A damning review of the rugby development management who will no doubt be renewing their contracts.
Reserve side Engsol Stallions
An asset audit will never take place because, very few people are aware of what is needed in building one outside the auspices of holding official seeming positions.
A new president will soon take seat. The story could remain the same.
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