Vultures get their wings clipped

The Vultures senior national rugby team are back home after an uninspired performance during their recent Rugby Silver Cup campaign in Zambia last week. Having lost to the hosts, Zambia and Madagascar, in the six nations tournament, the Vultures will now play a waiting game to see whether they remain in the Silver Cup or would be relegated to the Bronze lower ranks.

“We are waiting for log standings to see whether we remain in the Silver Cup and this will depend on the   aggregation,” said the Botswana Rugby Union (BRU) Secretary General Ernest Mantsi in an   interview this week. Mantsi said the team that wins first place in the Silver Cup is promoted to the elite Gold Cup while the team that acquires 6th position will be relegated to the Bronze cup. Moreover, Mantsi said the winners of the Bronze cup will be elevated to the Silver cup. 

“We are waiting for the results to see who will be relegated to the Bronze cup and this may take up to one week after the competition is concluded.” Mantsi said it will be up to the Africa Rugby officials to determine who goes or remains in the Silver cup. Mantsi said there are other factors that can determine this such as Africa Rugby officials investigating whether there were any defaulters during the six-nation tournament. Meanwhile, Mantsi said the Vultures who competed in Zambia are a fairly new team in terms of both the players and the technical department.

“They would   have loved to have done better at the Silver cup but going further the Botswana Rugby Union will be setting new targets for them.”  Furthermore, Mantsi said it is important for the BRU to start preparing for next year’s Silver Cup. With the 2018 Silver cup behind them, Mantsi said   they will now focus on the Seven’s national men’s team who are expected to compete at an Africa tournament this October. In other matters, Mantsi said they continue to struggle with attracting sponsorship especially for the national team which is expensive to maintain.