Rwandan Rugby organise premier Big Ant Rugby 7s tournament

Kigali, Rwanda, November 8th  , 2021 / The Rwanda Rugby Federation The Rwanda Rugby Federation (RRF) is to hold a 7-a-side Rugby tournament on Saturday 13 November 2021, at the National, Amahoro Stadium.
The one day tournament has kindly been sponsored by Big Ant Studios; An international video game developer. The RRF would also like to take this opportunity to give particular thanks to Andrew Harries and his department for making this possible. Andrew is based in Wales, where Rugby is engrained as part of the culture so fully appreciated and supported what this tournament would mean for Rugby in Rwanda. The Big Ant tournament marks the return of domestic Rugby in Rwanda for the first time since the start of Covid Outbreak in March 2020.
A total of 14 teams, consisting of 8 male teams and 6 female teams in separate competitions will compete for the inaugural Big Ant Trophy. The eight male teams battling it out will be Kigali Sharks RFC, Rubavu Black Eagles, Thousand Hills RFC, Resilience RFC, Puma RFC, Muhanga Thunders RFC, UR Grizzlies RFC and Burera Tigers RFC. The six female teams hoping to be crowned the Big Ant Champions are the Kigali Sharks RFC, Musanze Gorilla Girl’s Club, Ruhango Women RFC, Muhanga Thunders RFC, Resilience RFC and UR College of Medicine and Health Sciences Rwamagana Campus.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the RRF, Muhire John Livingstone, explained that the men’s competition will consist of two groups of four teams. The winners of each group will play the runners-up of each group in two semi-finals, with the winners progressing to the final where the teams will battle it out to be crowned the Big Ant Champions. The women’s tournament is taking a slightly different format with the six teams pooled into two groups. The third place teams in each group, will then compete in a 5th and 6th place play-off, the two second teams competing for 3rd and 4th respectively, and the table toppers fighting it out in a final to be crowned Champions.
President of RRF, Kamanda Tharcisse is quoted as saying “I would personally like to thank Big Ant Studios for their sponsorship because without this a tournament in November 2021 would not have been possible. The tournament will boost rugby 7s both for men and women in Rwanda and we hope to partner with Big Ant again in the future. The Federation is also still holding out hope that we will be able to host Rugby Africa Regional Men’s 7s scheduled for January 2022 and this Big Ant tournament will be used to identify potential talent to represent our National team, The Silverbacks.”
We would also like to thank the Ministry of Sports for allowing the return of Rugby. Rugby competitions have been delayed longer than other sports due to it being a contact sport, however, after implementing safe Covid measures, the Federation has been given the greenlight to resume Rugby related activities and competitions.
We therefore invite you to join us for the Big Ant Rugby 7s taking place between 8.00am and 17.00pm, at the Amahoro Stadium, on Saturday 13 November 2021. Entrance to the Stadium is free and refreshments supplied by ‘Pangolin’s Burrows’ will be available for purchase. There will also be an in Stadium Master of Ceremonies (MC) who will be responsible for introducing the teams, music and keeping the crowd entertained between games. Please note a negative rapid flow test must be presented on entry. These can be sought at 5000 RwF from pharmacies, who will provide results by text message which must be shown at the main gate.

The Rwanda Rugby Federation (RRF) (www.RwandaRugby.com) is responsible for all aspects of rugby in Rwanda from school level to the international Silverbacks. Our aim is to encourage the development of rugby in Rwanda and increase participation at all ages and both genders.