Spartans had an easy day in the office denying the national team a chance at goal. The side has always been a force to reckon with during local 7s tournaments. Over the weekend, it was no different during the Bokomo Botswana 7s tournament held at Gaborone Hogs ground. The tournament was the first of a three part series that Botswana Rugby Union (BRU) has planned for April. The tournaments are meant to sharpen the 7s national team ahead of the Africa Rugby 7s championships slated for Uganda.
Botswana qualified for the championships during the qualifiers held in Lesotho in January. The weekend tournament was also the first rugby action since sport was allowed to return following stoppage due the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Spartans won all their matches beating Gaborone Hogs and BDF Cheetahs to reach the final.
The national team also had a good run beating BDF and Hogs. Spartans coach, Shaun Lees told Sport Monitor that he was impressed with the performance of his players. “The guys had a good tournament. We just have to work on our weakness when we prepare for the next tournament. We might have won all our games but there are areas I felt we lacked.
We cannot be perfect in everything and we also picked some lessons from our opponents,” he said. Lees said the tournament was also an indication that slowly but surely rugby is coming back. National team coach, Kabo Batsile said his players did their best against a great side. He also said winning other games is an indication that they are on to something right.
He stated that they now know where to improve. “We have a continental championships to attend so we must be fit in all areas. Spartans was a good opponent and they exposed our weak areas. This is exactly what we needed as we continue with our preparations,” he said. Batsile said they are left with a few weeks to wrap up their preparations before jetting off to Kampala. The traveling squad is yet to be finalised.
Spartans: 24 Vultures: 0
