The tournament, which was hosted in Ghana, saw the Nigerians beat the hosts 30-4 in the final to win the ultimate.
Nigeria, who came into the competition as defending champions, lived up to expectations by making light work of all their opponents.
Having easily dispatched off Cameroon in the previous round, the Green Hawks made another strong start in the final against Ghana.
They dominated the final played at the Mensah Sarbah Hall Park, University of Ghana, Legon, and rose into a 22-0 lead in the first half.
The Green Hawks continued their dominance in the second half and despite the Ghanaians putting up a fight, they still lost 30-4.
“It was a fantastic occasion, the guys played really well,” Bolu Fagborun, the head coach of Nigeria, said afterwards.
“I wanted them to start hot and they did, kicked well, put Ghana under pressure and to play in the right parts of the field, they handled the conditions really well.
“We spoke a lot during the week about what this tournament meant for us and seeing whether this team can take us all the way to France 2025 and the World Cup, we really have challenged them to progress and they showed their ambition in the sport. This region has a lot of potential.”
Meanwhile, Ghana’s coach Andy Gilvary believes his side made too many mistakes, which eventually proved costly in the final.
“Obviously we are very disappointed. But you can’t play for only 40 minutes against Nigeria and expect to get a result,” he noted.
“Too many errors early in the tackle count cost is dearly but credit to the boys, they dug in for the second half and turned it around. Nigeria are a slick outfit and we are not far off.”
Both Ghana and Nigeria have qualified for the 2023 MEA Rugby League Championship in South Africa, which will act as a qualifier for RLWC2025.
Source: PulseGhana