Two Horse Race?
After two legs of the 2022 National sevens circuit, it is starting to look like the race to the overall title will be a two horse race between the back to back cup finalists, Strathmore Leos and KCB. The two have been neck and shoulders above the chasing pack and it doesn’t seem like anyone will catch up with them, but then again this is sevens rugby.
The two have seldom put a foot wrong in the 12 matches we have seen them play so far. Apart from losing the finals to each other, I think the teams that have come close to beating either are, Mwamba who drew with Strathmore on Kabeberi day one and ran KCB close a day later in the cup quarter. Oilers who took KCB to sudden death at the Christie 7s cup semi and Quins who ran Strath close in the Christie Cup quarter final.
Strathmore’s domination of KCB in their 15-10 cup final win, places them ahead of the Lions at this point and you could see that they had done their homework after falling short the previous week. They started with an intensity that KCB couldn’t match and did a splendind job at stopping the Lions from settling into their stride.
The Magic of Sevens
Five days is a long time, especially in sevens rugby, just ask MMUST, Homeboyz and Nakuru on one side or Impala, Quins, Kabras and Western Bulls on the other. Whilst the first three started their sevens campaign in fine form at Kabeberi, they found themselves on the other end of the standings at the Christie’s.
MMUST found the going tough, falling to rivals Kabras in Pool C before a last round loss to Oilers saw them relegated to the Challenge Trophy. The meltdown of the tournament though belonged to Homeboyz, who after finishing 4th at Kabeberi failed to make it out of Pool D, after a shock loss to Western Bulls, who in turn finished 4th overall at Christie’s.
Expect this trend to hold, especially in the third leg with teams expected to beef up with their national sevens team players as well as Simbas.
Style of Play
What has perhaps been most refreshing to see is the expansive style of play that most of the teams have adopted, reverting to the Kenyan DNA, a welcome site to what we have been accustomed to in past circuits and the national team.
While still early days, I hope we make this shift slowly and surely, backed by the necessary skillset, especially now that we are getting kids into rugby at a much younger age.
It is also exciting to see young players step up to the mantle, if Kabeberi belonged to Madigu, then Christie belonged to Patrick Odongo of Daystar. Fresh from high school, Odongo’s blistering pace left defences in his wake and when he wasn’t going round them, he was going through them. Amon Wamalwa of Homeboyz who is now a household name also had a good run out, as did Philemon ‘Chinese’ Olang who eventually picked up the MVP accolade, Samuel Mwaura of Nakuru and Dennis Ambukuse of Oilers. Can’t wait to see more…
The Women’s Category
The first round of the Christie 7s Women’s category matches was played on Friday, this was probably informed by the fact that Day 1 matches at Kabeberi sevens went deep into 7PM, with the poor lighting, player safety was compromised.
While we did get to watch the last round of matches on Saturday, I still think we can find a solution where we get as much eyeballs on the women’s game as possible. The competition is A1 and the growth of the women’s game has been impressive. The Mwamba ladies seem like the early favourites after losing narrowly to Nakuru in the Kabeberi final, before seeing off the Northern Suburbs at Christie 7s.
The injection of prize money into the category by Betsafe will definitely turn up the competition levels especially between those top sides, with Yamanashi Impala also in the mix.
The first two legs have set the benchmark for the rest of the circuit, both on and off the picth, great crowds, nail bitting action and the sherehe to go with, I have a feeling that Mombasa will top both of these…
As mentioned in the first edition of this series, I’ll leave number five to you to share anything that stood out for you from the tournament, in the comments section. Don’t forget to check out the home of all National sevens circuit updates, below. See you all in Mombasa, if not at the Simbas matches!
KWISHA…Nimeruka Nje!!!
