We are The Pride Of Africa…

It was a weekend of great pride for Kenyan rugby, courtesy of the sevens teams that went out to Dubai. Most of you already know that the Shujaa finished third in the Duabai leg of the HSBC Sevens circuit, what you might have not heard is that the warembo impressively reached the finals of the invitational Dubai sevens.

The Ladies in Dubz (Photo Courtesy of Phila Orlando)

The ladies side, started the tournament with a 17-0 loss to Maple Leafs picking themselves up to win the next two fixtures, 22-14 and 7-5 against the Swedish Vikings and Moscow Region. This saw the warembo play in the cup on day 2, beating the hosts UAE Women 12-5 and the Swedish Vikings for the second time 7-0. Setting up a replay against the Maple Leafs in the final, unfortunately going down again to the Leafs 27-5. A great showing by the ladies, considering the exposure they get, a few more games apart from the usual Uganda should see them winning these tournaments out rightly.  

In the main tournament, the gents went one better than what they posted down under finishing third, gathering 17 points to add to the 15 they already had, to bring their tally to 32 points. A performance to match the new Samurai kit the mboys were donning in this one, thank heavens we were not seen in that hideous piece of clothing the team was in before they left for Dubai. We would have been the laughing stalk of the rugby world..what were Gilbert thinking?! Surely….
Onto more serious matters, this leg was one that I felt we showed just how good this team can be, we played with the proverbial handbrake on for most of the tournament, save for the last game against France, and look how far we reached now imagine where we will be when we are firing on all cylinders..scary!!

When I say that we played with the handbrake on, I mean we didn’t see the free flowing rugby we have been accustomed to. We saw a Kenya side that opted to ply a more direct route, even when deep into our territory this understandably gave some of us very nervous moments. That first half against Canada comes into mind, one thing that came out with this style of play was our defence, water tight is an under statement.
We also saw Big Mike deploy more or less two sides, or rather using his substitutes far much more than he did in Gold Coast thus managing the load on the players. This evident as we looked fresher against France than we did at the same stage in Australia.
That loss to New Zealand brought most of us back to earth, revealing how far we have to go to compete with the best in the world. It’s not that much actually, they beat us on two fronts in my book the break downs and maturity in game play. The previous can be worked on in the short time, the latter on the other hand will take time as the players get to know each other and their respective roles on the green.  
Now we lose Oscar Ouma, Collins Injera, Biko Adema and Sidney Ashioya going to Port Elizabeth, the first three will be replaced by Fabian Olando, Billy Odhiambo and Oscar Ayodi. Communication on who will replace Sidney who did his hamstring against Canada has not been made, but it will be a headache for the technical bench as we are currently short on natural sweepers. Wanjala is currently out due to studies, maybe Chris Asego? Anyway I’m glad it’s not my call..

The team after securing 3rd spot in Dubai (Courtesy of M.O.R)

In Port Elizabeth, we headline Pool C (you should be screaming in joy after reading that!) and are joined by Wales, Argentina and Spain. The Spanish must be cursing their luck though Pedro Martins will breathe a sigh of relief as the Chu Chu train will be back home. A tricky looking pool (aren’t they all these days) Argentina and Wales have been impressive over the last two legs, Argentina picking up the Plate in Australia with Wales picking the same in Dubai, the Argentines settling for the Bowl in Dubai.
Apart from the break down, I think the technical bench will look to improve on the Kicking as it was below par in Dubai, those two points can be very vital.
Back Home, the Chairman’s leagues saw a total of 4 matches played this owing to logistical issues and the fact that most Universities are currently sitting their end of year exams. The Four Matches were:
Stormers 24-0 Mt.Kenya
Catholic 15-12 Daystar
Thika 30-0 KEMU
Mombasa II 53-8 Shepherds (Coast Edition)
That Narrow win over Daystar saw Catholic hold on to top spot in the Universities edition on 19 points, 3 ahead of Thika who have played a game more. The Stormers who continue to impress in their first season are third on 14 points.
Mombasa II kept their impressive run going averaging a tally of 38.3 points a game and conceding only 3 at the top of the coast edition on 14 points level with Jkuat Voi.
In the Nationwide leagues, a similar story is played out with most fixtures not taking off, this one saw 3 games in all played.
Kenya Poly 67-0 KCA
Mombasa 17-0 JKUAT
Masinde Muliro 20-7 Maseno (Western)
The Kenya Polytechnic took advantage of the Egerton rest weekend to take first position on 18 points after that resounding win over KCA, the accountancy students finding the going tough this far, they are on -2, Mombasa RC are third on 14 points. In the West, Masinde Muliro lead the pack on 15 points, with Maseno further back in a three way tie on 5 points for 7th place.
In the ESS, only one fixture was not played as the Blakblad vs Kisumu mtch got postponed, those that did get under way posted the following results:

Mwamba II 66-12 Kakamega
Impala II 16-11 Strathmore II
Nondies II 15-23 KCB II
Homeboyz II 16-8 Nakuru II
Machine II 0-13 Quins II

The second string Kulabu side registering the biggest win in this category against Kakamega who after last weeks win find themselves on the wrong end of a big score again. The Catullus (That is what they call Strath II) losing out to the junior gazelles of Impala, KCB II keeping their unbeaten run going with that bonus win in the battle of the cubs against Nondies II. Nakuru II saw their lossless run grind to a halt at the Ruaraka grounds at the hands of Homeboyz II, the junior Djs posting their first win this season and what a memorable win that was. Quins II kept their grip on the top of the log with that win over Machine II taking them to 24 points. KCB II and Nakuru II follow Quins II on 18 points with KCB II boasting of a superior points tally hence taking second place. The Catullus are on 16 points in 4th with Impala II rounding up the top five three points behind.

The top flight saw very interesting results posted, defending champions Quins failing to win in what looked like a straight forward match against Machine at the UoN grounds. Across town, Impala’s woes seem to have no end as they fell heavily to Strathmore in the stand out results of the weekend, here are the rest :

Mwamba 41-7 Western Bulls
Impala 10-59 Strathmore
Nondies 26-39 KCB
Homeboyz 11-36 Nakuru
Machine 17-17 Quins

Mwamba brought Western Bull’s fairytale run to a screeching halt with that massive 41-7 score, the Echulusi had not lost in 3 and were looking to score another big scalp going into this one, that win sees Kulabu hold on to 5th spot on 18 points.

One thing is for sure, this doesn’t look like Impala’s season..no win in 5 this season, that run stretching to 7 if you consider the Floodies. The gazelles falling to their biggest defeat in recent times at the hands of the Leos. That result continues to embrace the relegation battle, they are now on 2 points in 9th, Strathmore on the other hand jump into second on 21 points.

At the Red Lion, KCB eventually came out on top in what was a gruelling battle of the lions. The game witnessed by world cup winner Butch James of the Springboks was finely poised at 22-20 at the half, before the green lion run out 39-26 winners. This result sees the bankers jump into 3rd on 20 points having played a game less than their counterparts. Nondies are in 10th spot on 6 points.

Nakuru made it two weeks at the top with what was a hard fought win over Homeboyz, the Wanyore are now on a perfect 25 points after 5 matches, managing to score a bonus in every game. Homeboyz failing to build on the impressive win over Quins last weekend but did go down with a fight, the Djs are now on 9 points in 7th place.

At the UoN hosts Mean Machine impressively held defending champions Quins to a 17 all draw. The lunch bars are now without a win in two, and are now in 4th on 19 points. The season is looking much better for Machine after what was a tough start for the Eschuma they are finally finding their feet, they now are on 7 points in 10th spot on the Log.

Looking at the top four, KCB boast of the best attack, averaging 40 points a match, Nakuru are second on an average of 36.6 with Strathmore on 30 flat, Quins round up this category on 29.8 points a match.
Quins have the best defence, conceding an average of 10.4 points a match, followed by Strathmore on 11.8 points, KCB 12.8 and Nakuru who let in 15.6 points a match.
The most porous defence in the league goes to Homeboyz letting in 34.2 points a match, with the most inept attack going to Blakblad who score an average of 9.25 points a game this far.

The league is due to break for the festivities after game week 6, paving way for the inaugural Naivasha 10’s on the 15th. Looking at the Log the battle for the top four play off positions pits 6 sides, these are Western Bulls, Mwamba, Quins, KCB, Strathmore and current leaders Nakuru. On the other end of the league Impala find themselves in the thick of things 2 points off the bottom having played a game more than Blad who hold last spot and two more than Kisumu (1) in 11th. Nondies are 4 points clear of the red shirts in 9th, they are 7 points off 7th and will have to pull off something special to finish better than they did last season.

In my salamz corner, belated birthday greetings to a man I will always refer to as Captain Teddy Salano of Nondies who celebrated his birthday over the weekend.

Back to Dubai, I will like to leave you with an image of pure beauty..it can only get better!! Oh by the way you do know Collo finished as top try scorer right?

With that ladies and Gentlemen have a productive week ahead aaaannnnnnddddd……

KWISHA….Nimeruka Nje!!!!

   

   

  
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Poghie

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