The Last Four At The BRSS

The second semi final sees the top two franchises from Kenya and Uganda clash in what is being looked at by many as a precursor to the Elgon Cup.

The Rwenzori will take this match as a chance at redemption after the loss to the Ndovu here 7 days ago. Before that loss the Rwenzori had comfortably won their opening two matches against the Kengewa and Mamba. The Ndovu successfully managed to match the Rwenzori’s forwards play from the reports I have received, giving their hosts very little to play with.

Rwenzori against the Kengewa on Game Day 1

Against the Nyumbu, who posses a better 23 than what they faced last weekend, the Rwenzori will have to pull out all the stops if they are to make it to their second straight final.

The Nyumbu travel to Kampala with their tails held high after muting the Papa in Nairobi, that win ensured that they still hold the only 100% record this far. The Kenyans have steam rolled through the three weeks with a lot of ease, the Victoria their first casualties. 

Despite that 70-15 win, the Victoria did make head way in the forwards causing the Nyumbu all sorts of problems as far as set pieces went. The Rwenzori will probably offer the same if not more in terms of forward play and will look to keep it tight and expose Nyumbu’s frailties in this area. That though will be a risky tact, as the Nyumbu are explosive on the break and rarely leave the opposition 22 without scoring, all they need is the slightest sniff at an opportunity.

It will be hard to bet against the Nyumbu in this tie, the only way they might lose this tie is if they choke as most sides do when they cross the border. With Ndovu’s triumph last weekend though, this will be the least of their worries.

The two sides that topped the pools will feel aggrieved going into these fixtures seeing as the two will be playing their Semi finals away from home. In an ideal world, teams that top their pools get the advantage of a home semi final, here though the locations were set before the tournament kicked off.

The Semi final in Kampala was dependant on whether a Ugandan side made it to this stage. This clause is what has raised many eye brows, and is the reason this fixture might not be honoured by the Nyumbu.

 It is the general feeling is that the Ugandan sides are being awarded a home semi final despite their performance, thus giving them an unfair advantage. By the time this post went up, the Nyumbu had not travelled to Kampala, it is also unclear if the Ndovu will travel to the Capital to face the Papa.

If these fixtures do kick off in the respective venues, teams should at least be guaranteed fairness going forward. The semi final structure should be streamlined to offer a level playing field and reward the effort put in in the pool stages.

This is my projection of how the two score boards will look like at the end of the 80 minutes barring any walk overs,

Ndovu over Papa by 5 or less
Nyumbu over Rwenzori by more than 10

The semi final in Nairobi will be preceded by a clash between the Kiboko and the Kengewa, this one could see the Kengewa romp to another big win but not close to what we saw here last weekend.

The race for the top try and points scorer is heating up with Martin Muita of the Ndovu leading the way on the overall log on 40 points, two ahead of Fabian Olando of the Papa. Wilson Kopondo is part of a 3 way tie with Tony Owuor and George Okowa of the Nguvu Kengewa on 5 tries.

The battle for these two accolades will probably be won by one of the mentioned, barring any freak scores in the final set of matches. Leon Adongo of the Nyumbu will probably be the only challenger to his team mate.

Questions have been raised over the competitiveness of the super series especially this year where we have seen some big scores. It is no doubt that the Super Series has shifted from being a platform to showcase the best players in the country to a development tournament.

Development is not a bad thing at all, but it should not be our sole focus. We already have top quality in this country and indeed the region we should not sacrifice this for development. What should happen rather is combining the two without affecting either. How you ask?  Well there has been a school of thought (first seen here http://ollows.com/index.php/bamburi-super-series-losing-spark/) that I buy into fully..that the Super Series should be divided into two tiers that run concurrently.

The 1st tier will hold the best four teams, from this year’s tournament that would be Papa, Nyumbu, Ndovu and Rwenzori. With the second tier consisting of the rest, Kengewa, Victoria, Kiboko and Mamba. There will be promotion and relegation between the two tiers at the end of every tournament. Any new franchises will be added onto the second tier.

If this were to be implemented it would see us improve on the quality we already have while nurturing and developing this quality in the other sides.

With that Ladies and Gentlemen, lets hope these Semi Final fixtures do kick off aaaaaaannnnnnnnndddddd….

KWISHA….Nimeruka Nje!!!!