The national rugby team, Silverbacks won the Most Sociable Team award at the just concluded annual Kowloon Tens Rugby Fest in Hong Kong. The team returned home on Tuesday night.

At the week-long tournament, the Silverbacks managed three wins and two draws in the pool stages, and mauled team Operation Breakthrough 26-0 in the quarter-finals before they were narrowly edged by Singapore 7-0 in the semis.

Speaking to Times Sport upon return, the team’s acting coach/player, Jean Baptiste Itanzi said, "The young players on the team showed extraordinary desire and skill. It was inspiring. We had a short time to prepare and get used to the weather.”

"But I am glad the players stayed focused and played well. We left a good impression on the tournament organizers which led to the award of most sociable team,” he added.

The returning delegation of 18 people included the trio of senior players; Benjamin Akami Makombe , Olivier Nikwigize and Vincent Kamali, who played on the GFI East African team which also had players from Uganda and Kenya that played in the main GFI Hong Kong 10s competition. 

However, the GFI East Africans team had a tough debut losing two of its pool games and a draw, which dropped them into the Bowl Cup contested for by the bottom two teams in each pool.

The GFI East Africans team proceeded to the Bowl quarter-finals where they defeated Shandong 26-5 before falling 7-38 to UBB Gavekal at the semi-final stage.

The RFF president Alex Araire said, "We must commend the players for representing the country, especially that we had many new players on the team. This gives us encouragement that we could do better in the upcoming Africa Rugby Cup, Division 2 – South.”

The Africa Rugby Cup formerly CAR Division 2, which is scheduled to run from May 25-30 in Kinshasha, DR Congo, will feature Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and hosts DRC.

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