We are not them..unfortunately! |
Dear arm chair pessimist, we are Kenya, our fifteens team is currently ranked 35th a good distance from the above mentioned, our sevens team after 3 legs of the HSBC sevens circuit stands at position 14 on the log. I understand your high expectations in our teams but let them be realistic, what do they say about Rome being built? When the team fails to reach your ridiculously high expectations acknowledge the fact that they tried then have this thing they call hope and another one they call faith that one day we’ll get there, is that too much to ask? Statements like “Sa kama Hong Kong inatuchapa next ni India?” do you no service. How long did that NZ team take to get their hands on the Web Ellis trophy? exactly… I am not saying that we do not ask questions, or raise criticisms against our teams, but before you do, remember these players have left whatever they were doing back home, placed their bodies and lives on the line to represent this country. It seems you let the glories of the past few years get to your head, and forgot how long it took us to get there in the first place, patience my friend..soon I’ll be smacking your face in joy as we celebrate the triumphs of our teams, but till then we have to support them either way. Finally learn the difference between a ruck, a maul and a scrum..also there is nothing like a Fly Full or a scrum full either….thank you.
With that out of the way, the men take on UAE later today at 2PM. First let me applaud them for the performance they put in against Hong Kong, those who did watch the game will agree that we gave a great account of ourselves and the score line does not tell half the tale. Hong Kong did a great job of avoiding our forward play and we failed to counter them in their backs, they were indeed highly technical. One of the positives I picked from the game was our mauls, the organization and patience was a sight to behold, we gave them hell every time we piled the bodies. My man of the match..(drum roll) Dennis Mwanja, came up with several explosive runs one of them that resulted in a try also a special mention to one Peter Mutai. Before the team departed for dubai, I said here that a victory against either Brazil or Hong Kong will be an achievement, we were 40 minutes from beating them both, in that sense I am a satisfied man. We jumped 4 places in the rankings which is a worthy achievement, a victory today will cap a quite successful outing for the men!
The Kenya cup enters its final game week of the year, the league takes a break for the festivities after this one to resume next year. A couple of fixtures in the KC and the whole of the Nationwide leagues have been postponed due to the Uni. Games, thus teams that were to play Strath and Machine will have to take an early Christmas break.
Here are the fixtures:
KENYA CUP
K.C.B Vs Nondies (Lion’s Den, Ruaraka)
Kisumu Vs Mwamba (Kisumu Poly.)
Impala Vs Nakuru (Impala)
E.S.S
K.C.B II Vs Nondies II
Western Bulls Vs Mwamba II
Impala II Vs Nakuru II
The kondele boys will be looking to carry on where they left off last weekend as they host their second Kenya cup match against kulabu, Impala who are back to winning ways will have a tough one against a hurt wanyore side after that narrow loss at the hands of the black shirts last weekend.
To my feature match, which sees me going back to the lion’s den for KCB vs Nondies..us guys of nondies will be out for their first win of the campaign while the Kakamega crazy boys will look to top the league with another victory at the den. This should be a fierce fight at the forwards, whoever controls the match at this area I feel will have a great shot at winning this one. KCB welcome back Phillip Wamae to the lineup, a rare chance for a sevens player to feature in the league, as most of them are on break, in fact the only other of his kind to feature in the Kenya cup is Mwamba’s Agevi. Interesting to see the impact they have on their respective teams. Before I leave, I think the sevens players should be allowed to feature in the Kenya cup, in order to stay match fit and sharp, there is only so much that training can do..
With that fair Ladies…oh you too gentlemen….
KWISHA!!!!
Immediately after the KCB game I’m heading straight to the airport to welcome the 15’s squad back home, with a kibuyu of mursik na zile shiny decorations they use to welcome guys of athletics!!
P.S My use of the All blacks as a reference in this piece is solely because cause it’s the most popular team in world rugby, not that it’s the best, far from it..ni ka using brazil in soccer! Otherwise kuna team inaitwa Boks bwana..wachana nayo!!! wewe wachana na hiyo team, ni a very dangerous team, weh unachezea team ilionea NZ huruma ikaiwachia world cup..hapana jokes!!