Africa-Press – Lesotho. National rugby team head coach Morapeli Motaung has named his final 12 man squad for the Rugby Africa Pre-Olympic Qualifiers in Mauritius next weekend.
The team is camping in Morija and they will be based there until they leave the country next Thursday. Motaung had initially called 15 players to start training and the number was set to be trimmed down to a manageable size as time went on.
However, some players he called up were not able to join training due to school commitments. The final squad is without three players Motaung says he would have liked to have but were not available as two are due to write exams at Lerotholi Polytechnic.
One player lives in Roma and he was not able to join the team’s practice as the travelling expenses became too much. Lesotho has been drawn in Pool B of the Pre-Olympic Qualifiers along with hosts Mauritius, Botswana as well as Algeria.
Motaung said the players looked promising during training even though he would have liked to have played friendly matches in preparations for the tournament.
“They are promising, they are not 100 percent because we were choosing from a small pool of players.
There are two players who are not 100 percent as they are still recovering from injuries, I have another one who couldn’t join the training, he lives in Roma. It was difficult to travel to the stadium to practice every day,” he said.
“I think the players are encouraged by their performances in the last two tournaments we played because they performed well, one that we held here in Maseru and in Mozambique where they were champions.
We would have liked to play friendly games. In fact we were supposed to have travelled to Bloemfontein last week but we couldn’t, so we are going to play having had no friendlies,” he said.
The Rugby Africa Pre-Olympic Qualifiers are the first step towards possible qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and it is not the first time Lesotho gets the opportunity to compete for a spot in the Olympics.
In 2018, the 7s team came agonisingly close to making it into the final round of Africa qualifying but fell in the final of the preliminary tournament, losing 15-5 to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Rugby 7’s squad: Sechaba Mokhele, Bokang Ncheke, Lebohang Ntšinyi, Mamello Makoanyane, Lebatla Lebatla, Bakoena Nkesi, Sekhohola Phate, Tlotliso Motšeremeli, Kubutu Mokhakhe, Karabo Mphaki, Napo Mashapa, Paul Marie
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