Green Falcons Will Improve Ahead Rugby League World Series—Coach
Nigeria’s women’s rugby team coach, Luke Shearman, is confident that the Green Falcons will improve ahead of the Rugby League World Series in Canada.
The Green Falcons defeated Ghana 24–8 in a friendly on Saturday in their last game before the series kicks off late this month.
Six different players crossed the line for Nigeria, including early efforts from Blessing Aladeyelu and Lauretta Bayere, to secure the win.
Ghana’s Jacqueline Ansah pulled one back in the second half, converted by Gracelove Hammond, while both sides saw players sin-binned in a physical contest that underlined Nigeria’s dominance despite some missed kicks.
Shearman was delighted with the team’s performance in the encounter while expressing confidence about their chances in the series.
He said, “It’s building slowly. It’s always going to take time when you bring players from overseas into a local environment, but we’ll get there. We made a lot of errors, but those things happen; we just have to fix them. Ghana came with a plan, and they challenged us physically, so we must be a lot better if we want to compete on the world stage.”
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Green Falcons captain Blessing Aladeyelu said the team is ready for the series.
She said, “After our game in Kenya, we returned to Nigeria and kept training hard. Our foreign-based players joined us so we could sync and perfect our strategy.
We did well in both games, but we know we can do even better. We’ll go back to the board, fix our mistakes, and come out stronger in Canada. I trust my team, the coaches, and the management; we’re 100% ready.
“Big shoutout to Alaro City. They gave us a standard pitch, and I’m super excited about it. I wasn’t expecting this, but it really helped us prepare properly.”
The Green Falcons will represent Africa alongside Kenya and South Africa at the series.
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Nigeria, Fiji, Ireland, and host nation Canada will compete in a knockout tournament for the final slot at the 2026 Women’s Rugby League World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea.
The Nigerian team will depart for Canada on October 17.
The semi-finals are scheduled for October 21 at Terry Fox Stadium, Brampton, Ontario, with Ireland taking on Nigeria, followed by Canada facing Fiji.
The winners will clash in the final on October 26, while the losing teams will contest a third-place match, which will also count toward world ranking points.
