The BRSS match Day 1 and Glasgow 7's Preview.

Howdy ladies and gents, it is finally here, the 10^th edition of Africa’s premier rugby tournament, the Bamburi rugby super Series..but before we get to that, the Kenya sevens will be in Glasgow this weekend.

The mboys will be doing duty in the second last leg of the HSBC sevens circuit in Glasgow Scotland. It has been a see saw season as Mojo described it last week, our highest point being Las Vegas..lowest well you take your pick there’s Australia, Dubz, S.A and Japan. We introduced a new squad to the circuit and I am sure that they have learnt a lot from this season, look at the likes of Ambunya who has really grown this season. Any way away from the analysis I’ll do that when the season is actually over, right now we have a core status to maintain. We are placed 11^th on 36 points going into this leg, tied with Scotland and 1 behind USA. Now the battle for the last two slots is between us and the two I’ve just mentioned. We should better the performances of the two in these last two legs to be assured of a spot in the core teams. Scotland are pooled with Wales, South Africa and Russia. As you know we are with USA in pool A alongside England and Australia. Here are those day 1 fixtures again for you :

Kenya Times:

ENG vs KEN 3:04pm
AUS vs KEN 5:48
USA vs KEN 8:15pm

Now we have met all the above at one stage or another in this year's circuit, most recently in Tokyo and Hong Kong..they say you are only as good as your last game so that is what I’ll look at. We have met the Obama boys twice in those legs, winning both, in Tokyo we beat them 12-7 in the Bowl Quarters, while in Hong Kong we met in the Bowl final winning 14-12, we should replicate these performances in Glasgow in fact better them. We met England once and lost 22-17, now we always play our hearts out when we meet the English and I really hope that we revenge that loss, even though they are a tough act the closer they get to home. 

(I got this one from the Ministry of Rugby..I just had to share it, the Kenya 7's at Saf 7's 2011.. minimising it any further would be doing a great injustice to the photo)

We will be without three of our finest players this season in Injera, Ouma and Kayange but I feel that the replacements brought in can deliver. Mwamba’s Oriwo who was impressive in the local circuit has been given a chance to replicate this form in the biggest stage of them all and I for one trust that he will. Mike Agevi and Patrice Agunda are no strangers to the squad, they make their comeback along with the experienced quartet of Victor Oduor, Biko Adema, Lavin Asego and Captain Sidney Ashioya. Now the lack of our stars can do one of two things, we can suffer from the fact that we don’t have our marks men or new players will step up onto the plate and take the mantle. The lack of the three also adds an element of unpredictability in the eyes of our opponenets, as kawaida they mark Collo, Oscar and Tall now they will have no clue who to watch, until it’s too late. 

 

The Bamburi super series as I mentioned earlier is finally here with us, Match Day 1 has some very mouth watering ties. Before we look at the fixtures here are the pools:

Pool A

Cheetahs

Sharks

Coastal Bulls

Lions

Pool B

Rhinos

Victoria

Rwenzori

Buffaloes 

Now the Day 1 Fixtures:

Cheetahs v Sharks 2.00pm RFUEA, Nairobi (Live on DSTV)

Coastal Bulls v Lions, 4.30pm Mombasa Sports Club, Mombasa

Rhinos v Victoria 4.00pm, RFUEA, Nairobi (Live on DSTV)

Rwenzori v Buffaloes 4.00pm, Kampala RUFC, Kampala (live on DSTV)

The Cheetahs vs Sharks match is my pick of the day, this will be a replay of last year’s semi final where the Cheetahs won 22-7 to book a spot in the final. The Sharks have an early opportunity to revenge that result, the Cheetahs on the other hand will be looking to confirm that win. It will be a classic encounter pitting the experience that the Cheetahs bring against the youthful flair of the Sharks..kind of like a wazee vijana tie. 

The other tie at the RFUEA, where defending champions the Rhinos come up against Uganda heavy weights Victoria also looks like an epic one though with the performances of the Uganda franchises in this tournament I won’t be surprised if the Rhinos steam roll past their Ugandan counter parts. That being said the Victoria who are Uganda’s equivalent of the Rhinos had a really disappointing series last year failing to make it past the pool stages. What better way to put away those memories than by beating the defending champions? Victoria by the way house the current Uganda Cup champions the MTN Heathens just like the Rhinos house Quins. Maybe the Ugandans will be buoyed by the Elgon cup win..

The Buffaloes will be travelling to Kampala to face last year’s surprise package the Rwenzori. The Buffaloes in their second year at the BRSS will be looking for a better result than they had against the Rwenzori last year where they lost 17-28 at the Mumias sports complex. The Buffaloes will not have Tall in their squad but will have an equally if not more experienced replacement in Derrick Wamalwa. With the performances of the Western Bulls in the ESS and Kisumu in the Kenya Cup the Buffaloes actually do stand a chance of revenging that result in Kampala though a slim one, looking at the record Kenyan teams have in Uganda. 

Rwenzori were last year’s surprise package, making it to the semi final where they fell to eventual winners the Rhinos. The Rwenzori beat their much fancied counter parts Victoria 11-8 on match Day 3 at the Kyadondo stadium en route to this semi final spot. They will be looking to repeat last years antics and to do that they need a good result here though in truth they will be up against a very different Buffaloes side than the one they beat last year.

The Lions start their BRSS campaign in Mombasa for the second year running (the lucky bastards hehe!) to face the Coastal Bulls, last year they were36-8 winners and if you ask them that is the only part of last year’s campaign they would like to repeat. The Lions lost the following two matches to the Sharks (some of us still feel the pain when we remember that game) and the Rhinos thus failing to make it to the quarters. The Lions this time round look like a formidable force looking at the squad capable of putting last year’s ghosts to rest. They face a Bulls side that has a host of guest players, look at these names Benjamin Ojema, Sebastien Shivoka, Kevin Gisore, Yahuma Jotham, Victor Andanje, George Ndemi and Felix Makori I think I’ve missed a few but when you look at these names you realize that this is not going to be as easy for the Lions as you thought. 

With that Ladies and gentlemen do enjoy your rugby weekend wherever you will be and don’t forget that there will be a fund raiser to cover Aberdeen’s Funeral arrangements on Saturday 5th May at the Railway Club please do show your support to our fallen heroine and her family.

Aannnndddddd………

KWISHA!!!