On May 1, 2018; it was disclosed that the Nigeria Rugby Football Federation (NRFF) organized a friendly game with Niger Republic in order to get the Black Stallions set for the Africa Sevens Rugby qualifiers, which will be hosted from September 15 to 16, 2018.

The captain of Black Stallions, Azeez Ladipo stated that the friendly match would be against Niger in Niamey in preparation for the qualifiers. He went further to say that the African qualifiers will feature six teams like Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Togo and Algeria.

He also said that the African qualifiers would be great medium for the country to be welcomed back again to the international championships.