Barthes Cup: Fifth place for Tunisia after beating Uganda

North African rugby powerhouse, Tunisia finished fifth in the Barthes Cup after beating Uganda 24-11 in the 5th-6th place final staged at the Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday 17 April.

Tunisia had a frenetic start to the game as they needed only two minutes to register the first try of the game through Mohammed Riahi who slalomed through the Uganda defense to touch down with Ilyes Ayari adding the extras.

Uganda were let down by poor handling skills in the red zone as they camped around the Tunisia 22 for large phases of the opening 20 minutes but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.

Uganda finally put points against their name with skipper Allan Okello who is the top points scorer in the tournament extending his lead at the summit with another penalty as they went into the half time break trailing 7-3.

The Uganda under 20 side made it a one point game three minutes after the resumption of the second half through the trusted boot of Allan Okello who made his intentions clear of bagging the top points scorer gong.

Tunisia augmented their advantage in the clash with a try from Mohammed Ali Jlassi after some quick thinking, picking up the ball from ruck and sneaking in through the blind side and slotting the ball behind the posts.

The North Africans pulled away from Uganda with a try from Mohammed Bel Hadj Youssef after some brilliant play from Mohammed Riahi but Ilyes Ayari missed his kick as the scoreboard read 19-6.

Tunisia had some daylight between them and Uganda when Mohammed Bel Hadj Youssef ploughed through the try line for his second of the game but kicking from Ilyes Ayari was again wayward.

The scoreline was made more respectable when Kevin Ampaire scratched the ball quickly from the five meter line to add five points into the scoreboard as the Tunisian defense was caught flat foot but Uganda missed the conversion.