Uganda Rugby Cranes will lock horns with Samoa in the Rugby sevens World Cup pre-round of 16 tie at AT&T Park in San Francisco, United States.
The global tournament is set to kick off today with Kenya facing Tonga in the first game of the preliminary round. Uganda’s game will be the fifth.
The Rugby Cranes will face England if they win. However, they will drop to the Bowl Cup if they lose to the Oceanian country. The game will be played at 12:29am Ugandan time.
Uganda lost to Samoa 27-19 in the group stages and 29-5 in the knockout of the Bowl Cup in December 2016.
Rugby Cranes qualified for the 7s World Cup in October last year during the Africa 7s championship played in Kampala. They defeated Zimbabwe in the final to retain the African title.
Eight countries; South Africa, Fiji, New Zealand, Scotland, England, Argentina, USA and Australia get a bye into the round of 16 because of their good rankings.
The tournament is in its seventh edition and will take place from 20 to 22 July.
Over 95,000 fans are expected through the turnstiles over the three days of action. New Zealand are the reigning champions.
The Uganda Rugby Cranes Squad in USA:
Coach: Tolbert Onyango
Team: Desire Ayera, Adrian Kasiito, Michael Okorach, James Odong, Solomon Okia, Justin Kimono, Phillip Wokorach, Timothy Kisiga, Aaron Ofoyrwoth, Pius Agena, Byron Oketayot and Ivan Magomu.
Pre-round of 16 fixtures:
Kenya v Tonga
Canada v Papua New Guinea
France v Jamaica
Wales v Zimbabwe
Samoa v Uganda
Russia v Hong Kong
Japan v Uruguay
Ireland v Chile