The Floodlit tournament kicked off the 15s rugby season over the weekend at Impala Club.
The hosts prevailed over their bitter rivals Sportpesa Harlequins in a Ngong Road Derby winning 20-15, while the defending champions KCB overcame a spirited Mwamba RFC outfit in an earlier match.
In the other quarter-finals ties, Homeboyz beat Nakuru RFC 37–30, while Strathmore edged out a spirited Nondies 25–23.
Homeboyz will now face KCB, while Impala will entertain Strathmore in the semis this weekend.
The real news of the event though was the introduction of a women’s competition, a really great gesture as it recognizes the growth of the women’s game in the country.
Currently Kenya sits behind South Africa in women’s rugby ladder and the more we take an interest in the women’s game, the more the gap in skills and investment between us and our more established southern neighbours will reduce. Hongera to the organizers!
In other news, the new Kabras coach Henley Du Plessis has recruited three players from the Boland Cavaliers in South Africa, fly-half Logan Basson, loose forward Claude Johannes and winger Enzo Fouttie.
He suggested that his charges lacked experience in these key department especially with the injury prone Fijian utility Jone Kubu already sidelined.
The new signings reflect the club ambitions and with the raids the technical bench has done on other local clubs and in poaching talent even as far as Uganda (Phillip Wokoroch), I am sure the reigning Kenya Cup champions KCB will take a keen interest in what is happening in the sugar belt considering that Kabras have been their fiercest rivals for the last three years.
On the management front, it would appear the gods of KRU seem to have finally heard their prayers, albeit grudgingly, when Radio Africa gifted them a five-year sponsorship deal worth Sh35 million per year for the rights to air the leagues, national sevens circuit, international friendlies, women’s league and the under 17s. The rights value will increase by 10 per cent per year.
Radio Africa is the stable of popular radio stations such as Classic FM and Radio Jambo, and Bamba TV.
It is a fact that not many people own the free to air Bamba decoder but things may be about to change as local rugby fans rush to snap them up.
With the current financial hole the board finds itself in, any money is good money. The deal surely beats the recent attempt at fundraising through an M-Pesa paybill number.
After Sportpesa pulled out of the sponsorship citing heavy taxation by the government, the board was thrown into a financial quagmire.
Radio Africa might not be bringing the millions the board is used to, but let us appreciate the little we got. Nusu mkate is quite palatable for now
Now to easily the most depressing news of the week where the sevens team succumbed to an embarrassing loss to the “billionaires” of Zimbabwe in the finals of the Africa Sevens Championship in Tunisia.
This is after ruthlessly mauling all the other teams with stoic defence on the road to the finals where the wheels came off in embarrassing fashion against a hungrier and free running Zimbabweans who restricted us to our 22.
Dropped passes, knock-ons and individualistic play were our Achilles’ heel.
The defending champions the Uganda Cranes also failed against the Zimbabweans in the semi-finals.
Back home the Varsity League continues where as expected the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University have had a flawless campaign so far and are favourites to reach the finals.
Finally, on a sad note, the curtains have come down on Osborne Bulemi, a veteran match official and a former Mwamba RFC winger, after a battle with diabetes.
May his soul rest in peace and as we pray that his family finds strength in this trying time.
- Advertisement -
