If the year 2016 was a roller coaster ride in an amusement park, it would have probably been called ‘the hell riser’ or ‘tower of terror.’ One of those with a big ‘Ride at your own peril’ signs.
Like a typical roller coaster ride, 2016 took us through some thrilling great highs then twisted and turned into some of the lowest lows all within the span of a dozen months.
2016 was the year we hit the highest World rugby ranking ever, it was also the year we won our first ever tournament at the world sevens series, witnessed one of the most exciting Kenya cup seasons and the women’s sevens side made great strides in their development. It was however also the year, the ugly hand of death visited us too many times for comfort.
Let us take a walk back through the calendar year 2016.
The 1st Half (January-May).
We kicked off 2016, much like we are ending it, on a sad note. In the first three days of January, Kenya rugby was hit by the news of the demise of Godfrey Githaiga who had passed away in a hit and run incident on 30th December 2015. In GG we lost one of the best scrum halves in the country.
As the month of January wound on, the Kenya cup race started heating up, so far Homeboyz had snuck in a 29-28 result over Kabras in Kakamega. The sugar millers would quickly bounce back with a 41-17 thumping of Quins on the same day Western Bulls claimed a shocking 27 all draw against KCB.
It will be remembered that before this point of the season, most had written off Kabras’ chances of making it to the play offs, that result would give us all something to think about.
It was also during January that Impala played probably the best half of rugby this year then went on to lose 25-23 to bitter rivals Quins. The DJs claimed a first ever league win over KCB,a 27-22 result on match day 9.
The Kenya 7s were showing a lot of promise, winning 2 out of 3 from Pool B at the Wellington 7s, making it to the Plate semi final where they lost 35-14 to Argentina.
Just like that we were in February, the Kenya 7s kept their strong show going, this time making it to the Plate Final in Sydney where they again lost to Argentina, 24-0. The Argentines were proving to be the season’s bogey team, our moment was however on the way.
Back home Kabras were working up a serious head of steam, winning 4 out of 4 in February, most notable was a 33-26 win over Nakuru at the N.A.C on match day 10.
Nakuru bounced back at the same venue within a fortnight of that result, with a 41-10 drubbing of the Kenya Harlequin in what was a forwards master class from the Wanyore.
The women’s league entered the second round with KCB beating Mwamba 24-5 in the cup final, Nakuru finished 3rd ahead of Quins with Impala and USIU picking up the Plate and Bowl titles respectively.
March didn’t have much to write home about, as far as Kenya Cup went, Impala had so far all but cemented their place at the top of the log, with the race for play off places now gathering pace. They beat Kabras 31-14 at the Impala club to further raise those questions on the sugar millers’ play off chances.
The Shujaa were ticking all the right boxes but just couldn’t seem to do this consistently. At the Vegas 7s, we blanked New Zealand 22-0 in the final round of pool games to finish top of Pool A. We however lost to USA 26-14 in the Cup quarter final before a going down to a shock 19-14 loss to Japan in the Plate semifinal.
The following weekend at the Vancouver sevens, we only won one match, over the two days against Portugal in Pool A. This would be our lowest point in the 2015/16 sevens season.
The KCB women stole the show in the third round of league action which featured 8 sides, the KCB Lionesses beat Quins women 40-12 in the cup final. Their main rivals Mwamba settled for 3rd place ahead of Nakuru Women. KCB were in similar form a week later in round 4 to wrap up the league title, once again seeing off Quins 32-5 in the final, Mwamba finished in 3rd with Nakuru in 4th.
The Great rift ten a side was for the first time ever played at the ASK showgrounds away from its traditional NAC home ground, at the end of the two day festival the Strathmore Leos were crowned great Great rift champions for the 5th time in their history, after blanking Kabras 10-0 in the final. Anyone know how the Pioneer Rugby club is fairing?
Remember this post, What if they all lost?
April was by far the most eventful month of the year and it kicked off in style, with match day 17 of the Kenya cup. Where the odds were torn apart with all the pre-match favourites losing their matches. KCB were beaten 13-7 by Mwamba at a water logged cage in Madaraka, Nakuru were then humbled 15-10 by the Strathmore Leos at the same venue. The other result saw Kabras pick up a vital 25-13 result against table toppers Impala in Kakamega.
Mwamba confirmed their status as Kings under the rain, after grinding out a 10-5 win over the Strathmore Leos at a rain drenched Railway club. That result heavily denting Strathmore’s chances of making the Play offs.
The play off 6 were confirmed a week later with the Ngong road duo of Impala and Quins grabbing the coveted top two slots that came with a straight ticket to the semi finals. Homeboyz, KCB, Nakuru and Kabras completed the play off line up and would battle for a place in the semis.
KCB and Kabras would book those semi final slots courtesy of 25-8 and a pulsating 16-15 results against Homeboyz and Nakuru respectively. Defending Champions KCB would then fall to Impala 8-7 in the semi finals at the Impala club, with Kabras edging out Quins 19-15 across the fence.
The sugar millers had completed the perfect turn around, from the pits of the lower half of the table they had turned their fortunes to make it back to back Kenya cup finals. They would be up against 2009 champions Impala who had been odd on favourites since the season begun.
The highlight from April though came with the Kenya sevens, on the evening of 17th. When after flattering England with a 33-0 result in the Hong Kong 7s Plate semi finals the previous weekend, we finally came good in Singapore.
A lucky break on day one saw us sneak into the Cup quarter finals, on the back of one win from Pool C. We beat Russia 21-7, before that 12 all draw against Scotland, remember Ayodi’s hauler in the try box? South Africa then beat us 14-0, they had beaten the Scots 33-0 earlier in the day which meant we progressed to the Cup quarter final.
Day 2 and an inspired Shujaa came out firing on all Cylinders to blow off Virimi Vakatawa and the French team, 28-7 in the cup quarter final. That win set up a tricky looking draw in the Semi finals against Argentina, to this day, I maintain that we won that title in this Semi final. After that Sudden death drop goal from Injera, we could have played a World combined 7s side in the final and we would have still beaten them.
As fate would have it, we drew the next best thing to a combined World 7s team, in the cup final, Fiji. The Islanders were stunned 30-7 in that final, as the Shujaa finally made it to the Promised land after 142 tournaments. Oyuuu got wheeels…Oyuu’s got wheels for days. (Just had to throw that in there.)
Then it was May, time to crown a new Kenya cup champion. Step forward Kabras Sugar RFC, who took full advantage of the torrential rain that hit the Impala club to register a 22-5 final score and write Kenya Cup history.
Quins claimed 3rd spot after beating KCB 36-29 in the bronze final that was played across the fence prior to that cup final.
The good news kept trickling in from the Shujaa as Collins Injera finally broke the all time try scoring record at the World sevens series. Scoring try number 231 at Twickenham, on day one of the season ending London 7s, in a 29-12 loss to France. Overall the team didn’t live up to expectation after that Singapore win.
What was primed to be the most successful season ever at the sevens series, ended in 98 points from 10 tournaments, a mile short of the 99 points we hit in 2012/13 after playing 9 legs. We wrapped the season with a Plate semi final appearance in Paris followed by a Shield trophy in London.
In May that ugly hand of death plucked out former Kenyan International David ‘Frangombe’ Francombe on the 16th, then soon after Eric Situma on the 23rd.
And it was half time…
Half Time (June-July)
After the back to back league action from January to May, it was time to slow things down in June with cup action and the Simbas taking center stage.
The Simbas kicked off their international fixtures with a resounding 48-10 win against the Uganda Cranes in the first leg of the Elgon Cup, played in Kampala. The Simbas then made it 2 from two with a last gasp 18-17 win over Brazil in Macapa. Those two results saw Kenya jump to 26th in the world ranking.
KCB made it back to back cup wins with a 24-12 win over Kabras in the Enterprise cup final, Nakuru II winning the Mwamba cup courtesy of a 20-16 result over Impala II.
The Kenya Lionesses were stepping up their preparations for the upcoming Olympic games with strong showings at the Clermont and Roma sevens. The ladies recorded a first ever win at the World series, with a 12-5 result over Japan in the Clermont 7s 11th place play off. They then finished second in Roma after losing 40-0 to South Africa in the cup final.
The Simbas were at it again in July, posting a historic 61-15 win over the Zimbabwe Sables in Harare, there was however little they could do to avoid defeat at the hands of the African champions Namibia a week later. The Simbas falling to a 56-21 final score in Windhoek.
That defeat couldn’t slow Kenya’s rise up the world rankings as we now broke the 25 mark and sat in 24th spot, with Uganda and Hong Kong still to come.
July was also the month we played the Rabadaa cup, in memory of Geoffrey Githaiga and Joshua Gathumbi. Remember the Tummy Boyz? We also saw the most fierce rivalry in schools rugby rekindled, when the Patch Machine of Nairobi School hosted the Mean Maroon of Lenana School at the main samba.
To wrap up July, the Simbas put up a master class against a stubborn Uganda Cranes side in front of a packed RFUEA grounds to register a 45-24 result and claim the Elgon Cup courtesy of a 93-34 aggregate score. That match also served as a Africa Cup encounter, meaning Kenya finished second in division 1A.
Oh July was also the month that 607 checked in..
With that two months had flown by and it was time for the second half.
Second Half (August-December)
If it is August then you know it is sevens season, and there was no bigger sevens month than August 2016!
Rugby sevens was finally making a comeback to the Olympic Games in Rio after more than a century out and Kenya was among the 12 teams that played in these historic games in both the men’s and women’s codes. Unfortunately our sides, especially the men failed to live up to the huge expectations of the nation, both finishing in 11th position out of 12.
It was a Rio to forget, Makosa ilitendeka.
The local sevens show kicked off with the Prinsloo 7s in Nakuru, where the Menengai Cream Homeboyz RFC wasted no time in making their intentions known.The Djs beat Impala 24-19 to claim the main cup title with Strathmore finishing 3rd and KCB picking up the Plate title. Mean Machine picked up the division 2 title and the promotion ticket it came bearing.
At the Kabeberi 7s, Impala stunned Homeboyz with a Lameck Dunde sudden death try to lift the Kabeberi title with a 19-14 full time score to end an 11 year wait for the Kabeberi title. Strathmore were once again 3rd with Kabras picking the Plate title, the division 2 main cup was taken home to Ukambani courtesy of Makueni RFC.
In Mombasa, Blak Blad stunned Impala and Nakuru on their way to topping Pool A into the cup quarter finals. They would however be knocked out by eventual cup winners Quins, who beat Homeboyz 19-14 in a pulsating final. The Leos again finished 3rd with KCB picking up the plate title. Comras edged out Nondies 5-0 in the division II cup final and secure qualification to the top flight.
On the international scene, the Kenya U-19 fell to a narrow 27-26 loss against Zimbabwe in their Division 1A opener, they then beat Tunisia 24-17 a few days later to finish 3rd in the continent’s top division.
Kenya ‘A’ took on Hong Kong on a Tuesday evening at packed Impala club, the exciting encounter ending in a 24-18 result in favour of the hosts. A fixture that re-ignited the debate on Friday night or mid week league matches. The Simbas wrapped up the international calendar with an impressive 34-10 win over Hong Kong a few days later.
That result saw the Simbas jump two places in the world rankings to an all time high of 22nd.
September was all about the Homeboyz, who won both the Dala and Nanyuki legs, picking up the former after a resounding 48-5 win over Quins, they picked the Nanyuki title courtesy of a 10-0 blanking of KCB.
By the time we reached the season ending Christie 7s, the Djs had all but wrapped up the title, they however failed to make it three cup wins on the trot after falling 22-5 to Kabras in the cup final. It was still the most dominant display we have seen in recent times, the DJs made it to 6 out of 6 cup finals, winning 3.
Before we could soak in the DJs display it was time for what was once Africa’s premier sevens tournament, now pale shadow of itself, the Safari sevens. This year the tournament also hosted the Africa cup sevens. The Uganda Cranes picked up the continental title with a 38-19 win over Namibia, the sevens rugby cranes had seen off Kenya ‘A’ 17-12 in the semi finals.
Shujaa lifted the Robin Cahill trophy with a comprehensive 38-21 result over Samurai international in a replay of last year’s cup final where Shujaa lost.
With the sevens done and dusted, it was back to the fifteens, here came October and with it, the 35th edition of the Impala Floodlit Tournament.
Hosts Impala ended their six year wait for the Floodies title, edging out 3-peat champions KCB 33-32 in a nail biting final. Homeboyz walked away with the newly introduced Plate trophy with the Menengai Oilers crowning three impressive weekends with the Universities title, Laiser Hill made it 3 titles in the schools category.
The month ended with Innocent ‘Namcos’ Simiyu taking over the reigns at the Kenya 7s and Kevin ‘Bling’ Wambua taking charge of the Sevens Lionesses.
Roll on November and league action was back! This time the leagues had been re-structured to see a new look 12 team Kenya cup and a newly formed Championship that will act as the feeder to the top flight, to add to the already existing Eric Shirley and Nationwide leagues.
The Kenya cup and Championship leagues share a similar structure, 12 teams divided into two pools of 6, with each side playing 2 legged ties against sides in their pool and one offs with sides in the other pool. The top 6 sides at the end of the league phase then play in a play off similar to what we had last season.
6 matches into the new season and apart from that early scare from Mean Machine at Kabras on match day 1, all else seems to have gone as expected. KCB’s 33-3 win over Nakuru at the Den might have raised a few eye brows but it might just be a fluke result.
The stand out performances so far have been Impala’s 42-39 win over Homeboyz followed by their 28-10 loss in the Ngong road derby.
December, started off with great excitement as the Ngong road derby played out its first leg at the Impala club. Namcos and Bling put up great showings in Dubai with the Kenya sevens reaching the Challenge trophy semis (formerly Bowl) and the Lionesses losing in the Bronze final of the Tribe sevens.
Then the unthinkable happened, we first lost Ogeto Gecheo on the 6th to breathing complications, having been successfully operated on for a spinal injury sustained during a game. Before we could recover from OG’s demise, we again took a hit to the core that sent us reeling.
I still lack the words to describe the news of Victor Wayodi’s death only 4 days after OG’s. What was encouraging to see though, is how the rugby family came together to support each other, may we never lose this.
I look back on 2016 with a smile thanking her (yes 2016 must have been a lady) for the good times and a sneer for whatever she threw at us, did not bring us down. So here is to us, the Kenyan rugby family, 2016 had nothing on us…
2017, here we come!
KWISHA…Nimeruka Nje!!!