Fedelia Angeles, Canada based rugby player has backed the Nigeria Women’s Rugby to properly develop into a competitive institution following their outing at the just concluded African Games in Accra, Ghana.
Fedelia who was the captain of the Lady Stallions of Nigeria 7s roster in the 13th All African Games, making their first ever debut in a major competition praised the spirit of the team despite loosing all of their games against Ghana, Uganda and Madagascar.
Reminiscing on the team’s outing in her interview with speedysportsng, she said “We are a very new team, this is our very first time playing together. Nigeria women rugby hasn’t played a game in 15 years so we are just learning, trying to get familiar with with game and gross the team”.
“We faced some tough nations but we couldn’t come out with the win. Nevertheless, we are proud of our growth from first game to second game, we’ve already showed improvement. We held down Madagascar, a rugby playing nation to a very close game and so there’s a lot to build on in Nigeria’s rugby for the next few years to come”.
“Obviously, we can tell in some of the games that some of the girls needs to learn the rules of rugby more and that comes with playing experience so if we can get some of our girls playing overseas and playing more and more and get the team to play more international matches, we would definitely grow. Right now, we need the opportunity”, she added.
“Based on our experience at the African Games, we can be big, we can be a very strong team if we are given a chance to continue to play”.
“With my experience, I have been playing rugby for about 15 years now. I bring a lot of rugby knowledge to the team, I try to always uplift the team and teach us more how to grow as a team. Technical skills especially around the rocks, we need to learn the laws of the game, so if we need to get in more players with experience to help grow the game and help these younger players along, the future of Nigerian rugby looks bright”.
“We have some young talented girls that if they are exposed to more rugby and people with experience teaching them, they are going to be great in the coming years”.
On her representing Nigeria and leading the team out in it’s first ever competition, “It’s a dream come through (sobs), I have always wanted to play for the nation and play with this team for so long, it’s like five years in the making and we have tried so hard to get a team together and now we have finally done it”.
“To wear this crest on the chest means a lot”.
In Rugby Union, the star-athlete has continued to shine after giving birth to their third child. Fedelia Angeles recently won the title of 2024 Female Club Player of the Year for Rugby Ontario, representing their union club Scarborough RFC.
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