After a fortnight’s breather, the sevens caravan will be back on the road this weekend, making its third stop at the coastal city of Mombasa for the 2022 Driftwood 7s.
Before we dig in, refresh your memory from the first two legs, here – https://tokoth.github.io/sevens-series-map/#2
Heading to the Mombasa Sports Club, Strathmore Leos and KCB are tied on 41 points at the top of the standings, having traded the main cup titles in the first two legs. Menengai Oilers who have finished third in both those occassions are fittingly in the same position on 34 points, eight points ahead of Mwamba, who lead Homeboyz by three to wrap up the top 5.
All things held constant, the 2022 overall series winner should come from this pod of five, and the Driftwood 7s should all but separate the proverbial boys from the men! With sides expected to beef up their squads from some of the players who had been on national duty, expect a whole different ball game in Mombasa. So what else can you expect? Let’s find out…
Pool A
The 2022 Christie 7s winners headline Pool A, where they will begin their hunt for a second title against Impala, Homeboyz and hosts Mombasa RFC. This should be a straight forward pool for the Leos, with their biggest challenge expected to come from Homeboyz who will be hurting from their dissapointment at Christie where they couldn’t get to the Cup competition.
Also don’t write off Impala, who love playing at the coastal city and will be bouyed by their performance at the Christie 7s.
Pool B
KCB headline a slippery looking Pool B where they will square it out against Kabras, Daystar and Jumia Pay Pirates. I call it slippery because in Daystar and Kabras, the Lions will have tricky opposition that can easily turn on them in the blink of an eye. As mentioned, most sides will be reinforcing their squads, this might not be the case with KCB who will be missing a few faces including current series top try scorer Jacob Ojee.
Kabras will be looking to improve on their Cup quarter final appearance at Christie by making a strong start in this pool and what better motivation for Tang Tang than the possibility of claiming KCB’s scalp? They should also keep a close eye on Daystar who they will face first, a slip here could make make their work in this pool much tougher.
As a side note, in case KCB fail to top this pool and Strathmore top Pool A, then the two will set up a mouth watering quarter final clash.
Pool C
This would be my pick for Pool of death as it sees the Menengai Oilers take on Kenya Harlequins, Nakuru RFC and Blak Blad. Oilers will be favourites to top this pool, but will be weary of a rejuvinated Quins side and their neighbours, Nakuru RFC.
Quins would probably be my pick for second place, or even upset the Oilers to first place, wouldn’t that be Quins’ first win against Oilers, ever? Expect some familiar faces in the quartered shirt, which might just add that extra oomph to the squad!
Pool D
The Christie 7s surprise package Western Bulls will face off against Mwamba, Nondies and the Div II champions Zetech Oaks.
The Echulusi will be looking to build on their heroics at Christie which saw them finish in 4th, losing 12-7 to the Oilers, after seeing off Kabras in the quarter final and falling to eventual winners Strathmore in the semi. They will be up against a Mwamba side who will definitely be looking to break that Cup quarter final ceiling that they have failed to go past so far.
Nondies failed to make the cup quarter final due to an inferior points scored tally and should not be written off in this Pool, they might just come good this time and they couldn’t have hoped for a better pairing.
On the other side of the wall, the battle to play Div I rugby at the Dala sevens will be running concurrently as 24 teams take on the Div II competition, the favourites here will be CUEA Monks, current series leaders Makueni, MMUST and AP Police.
The race to the Women’s overall title is set to heat up in Mombasa with Mwamba (41 points), Nakuru (37), Northern Suburbs (36) and Yamanashi Impala (32) all eyeing that grand prize of KES. 500,000 courtesy of Betsafe. Mwamba has so far played in two Cup finals, losing to Nakuru at Kabeberi then beating Northern Suburbs the next weekend at Christie.
It promises to be an action packed weekend both on and off the pitch packaged in a manner that only Mombasa can. I don’t need to say more…tupatane Mombasa!
KWISHA…Nimeruka Nje!!!
