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Lagos based Dragons
Rugby Football Club have emerged the inaugural winners of the Cresta
Kwara Rugby Sevens tournament concluded over the weekend in Ilorin.

Dragons, formerly
known as Addax, defeated fierce Lagos rivals Racing Rugby Club to win
the cup in the tournament which had 12 clubs in attendance. The teams
included Plateau, Benue, Edo, Police College, as well as the Kwara
based duo of Dynamite and Ilorin Rugby Clubs.

The tourney, which
was sponsored by Ilorin based Cresta Hotels, started on a promising
note for Dragons thanks to a 21-7 victory over Kano based Barewa Rugby
Club which they followed up with another victory over Kaduna Rugby Club
to emerge winners of Group D which was undoubtedly the tournament’s
toughest group.

Dragons then
proceeded to the semi finals where they came up against home side
Ilorin Rugby Club who finished tops in their preliminary round group
courtesy of victories over Edo Rugby Club and the team from the Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile Ife.

The semi final
clash against Ilorin ended in a convincing 21-5 victory for Dragons who
then proceeded to meet in the final a Racing side that had defeated
Zaria Rugby Club in the other semi final. And the final equally proved
easy for Dragons as they overcame Racing by 17 points to 7 to emerge
victorious in the tournament that also had on display an exhibition
game involving primary school pupils.

Other winners

Dragons weren’t the
only winners on the day as Barewa emerged victorious in the consolatory
‘Plate Final’ which was competed for by the four second placed teams
from the preliminary round. They defeated Jos Rugby Club 29-5 in the
one-sided encounter.

Speaking at the end
of the tournament, the Chief Operating Officer of the Nigerian Rugby
Football Federation, Akin Akintola rated the event highly.

“The tournament was a resounding success and the level of rugby was
of high standards,” said Akintola who also thanked the sponsors for
making it an annual event.