CAR Championships and Much more

A lot has gone down or up since the last time I posted here..for those who are wondering, I was on holiday hehe. The most notable is the Kenya fifteens side who will be defending their CAR division 1A title in Tunisia from tomorrow, more on that a bit later. The schools also played out their Prescott, Damu Pevu and Damu Changa finals. The Mwamba cup semi finals were played, the Enterprise Cup ones well one of them did, the other is a whole story coming up also. The dates for the local sevens circuit were released, these will be preceded by the innagural Masaku sevens which I must say that I am very excited about..for obvious reasons..hehe! Also a Kenya Universities side departed yesterday for France for the 5th World University Rugby Sevens Championship.

First up, we start off with the schools games that took place this past weekend, with Mangu winning the Prescott cup for the third year in a row. Nairobi School won the plate with Alliance finishing third courtesy of a walk over, after their opponents Lenana failed to produce age verification documents for their players..do monkeys have birth certificates? Lol! Ofafa Jericho upset Laiser Hill to the Damu pevu Shield with RVA scooping the Prescott bowl, their second team finishing third in the Damu Changa category, The junior wazimba finishing above Alliance II in the same. It was a great spectacle of schools rugby with the best of the best on display, the implementation of the age restriction is a welcome change. It should level the playing ground in the schools si mtoto wa 16 anacheza na baba wa 25 na ati ni schools. Out of the seven matches, my pick has to be the Prescott final just for the sheer master piece Mangu produced, they were rarely disturbed by UpperHill and when they did they did well to hold out, deserving champions they were. Second up would be the Ofafa Jericho win over Laiser Hill, the eastlands side did not give up even though they were trailing through most of the match, always good to see resilience especially at this level. Here are those results for you...

Damu Changa Bronze Final :
R.V.A II 15-13 Strathmore II

Damu Changa Final :
Alliance High School 0-15 Mangu High School.

Prescott Cup Bowl Final :
R.V.A19-11 St.Marys School

Prescott Plate Final :
 Nairobi School 12-7 Strathmore

Damu Pevu Shield Final :
Ofafa Jericho 15-13 Laiser Hill

Prescott Bronze Final :
Alliance w/o vs Lenana

Prescott Final :
Mangu 24-3 Upper Hill

The Mwamba Cup semis were played out a little over two weeks ago, with KCB and Mombasa RFC making it to the final, they now await their 'Big bros' in the Enterprise Cup as ideally the two finals should be staged on the same day. Though Mombasa did ask to be allowed to attend Amunga's burial which was slated for the same weekend as the final. This brings us to the Enterprise cup, the semi finalists were Impala, Nondies and KCB, Quins. Initially the two semis were both called off due to Quins who launched a complaint that most of their players were in the 35 man provisional national squad, valid reason but Quins must have a player base of more than 100 players. Impala went on to play their match against Nondies, the game doubled up as the Chums memorial Cup the white shirts carrying the day 23-14. A great result for Nondies who now await (looks like it's going to be a long wait) the winner of the other semi as they look to keep their impressive history in this cup going. I am hoping that the game will be played this weekend otherwise we are going to have to wait probably till after the sevens circuit, maybe even Safari sevens!
    
Onto the sevens, you are all aware that Mike Fridays will be taking up the coaching role from August 1 for one year, with a new conditioning coach Chris Brown (not the sissy singer) also on board as far as reports go. Three local coaches are also set to join that team, the names are to be revealed soon. This looks like a very promising technical team, lets get behind them, give them time.

Still on sevens, former(*2) sevens coach Benjamin Ayimba, former Kenya International 'Quicks' Nyakwaka and several other great minds have come up with the Masaku sevens. This one is pretty special to me, finally I get a reason to go to shags apart from matanga and the odd Christmas. The tournament will be held at the Machakos golf club on the 4th and 5th of August, I don't have the details of the teams that will take place..yet but I do hope it attracts some of the top sides as they prepare for the circuit. Perhaps we will see this tournament added to the national circuit some time..Masaku sevens..ndietela..that means 'I cant wait'

Here is the schedule for the local sevens circuit:

National Sevens Circuit 2012
Round 1
11-12 August 2012
Christie Sevens, RFUEA Grounds, Nairobi

Round 2
18-19 August 2012
Dala Sevens, Kisumu Poly, Kisumu

Round 3
1-2 September 2012
Prinsloo Sevens, Nakuru Athletic Club, Nakuru

Round 4
8-9 September 2012
George Mwangi Kabeberi Memorial Sevens, RFUEA Grounds, Nairobi


Round 5
15-16 September 2012
Driftwood Sevens, Mombasa Sports Club, Mombasa

So this year the circuit kicks off in Nairobi not Kisumu with the two Nairobi legs separated, this year also has ample rest days for the teams to recharge their batteries and nurse wounds before hitting the next legs. Thus expect the Safari sevens to be somewhere at the end of September or early October (whether at Nyayo, Kasarani or back at the RFUEA) as the international circuit starts on the weekend of 13th October.

To the fifteens, the squad that will be defending the CAR division 1 title in Jemmal Tunisia was named a while back for those who need a refresher here it is...

Joel Nganga (Rhinos/Captain), Moses Amusala (Lions), Dennis Karani (Rhinos), Curtis Lilako (Lions), Sammy Warui , Duncan Mwangi,Wilson Kopondo(Rhinos), Ronnie Mwenesi (Cheetahs), Tony Mutai (Rhinos), Duncan Ekasi (Cheetahs), Oscar Ouma (Nakuru), Charles Omondi (Sharks), Lawi Buyachi (Cheetahs), Edwin Machanje (Lions), Moses Kola (Cheetahs), Edwin Achayo , Eden Agero (Rhinos), Isaac Adimo (Sharks), Nick Barasa(Rhinos), Patrice Agunda (Quins), David Ambunya (University of Cape Town), Vincent Mose (Cheetahs), Tony Onyango (Sharks), Dennis Muhanji (Rhinos)
Coach: Michael Otieno, Assistant Coach: Charles Ngovi, Team Manager: Wangila Simiyu, Physio: Chris Makachia

The squad at the JKIA before leaving..kuna msee ako katikati ya Amusala na Achayo, na mwingine to next to Tony Mutai na si Mose, then nyuma ya Izo na si TM waah...hehehe sisemi kitu ama ni Camera ya Maiko? (Photo courtesy of Mike Mwanja)

That squad left for Jemmal on Saturday and will be playing their first match against Uganda on Tuesday night, find the schedule below. The squad includes Oscar Ouma who is a welcome inclusion at the back row and Moses Kola who makes a return to the team after the Injury to Peter Mutai at the Elgon Warriors match, think the selection of these two shows that Tank wants to go with experience. As the pair are no first timers in the squad and know what is needed at this level..here is the schedule in Kenya time.
     

Division 1A. Date: July 8-14. Host: Tunisia.
Teams: Tunisia, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Uganda

Semi-Finals:- Date: 10 July 2012
Kenya v Uganda 2100 hrs (9pm)
Tunisia v Zimbabwe 1900 hrs (7pm)

Final and 3rd Place 14 July.
3rd place playoff 1900 hrs (7pm)
Final 2100 hrs (9pm)


Our first objective should be to remain in this division, that means finishing third or better. Remaining in this division will mean that we still have a chance to qualify for the 2015 world cup. The other one should be to get to the final, which in other words means beating Uganda and earning sweet revenge for the Elgon Cup loss. It's going to be a tough match that one, I also expect Tunisia to come out with all guns blazing being the hosts and having lost to Kenya in the last Championships so will Zimbabwe who did not play last year.

Let's have more of this in Jemmal guys...

After this the team will have a two week break as they take on Zimbabwe on the 28th for the Victoria cup, a tight schedule it is but I expect the team to achieve those objectives, defending the title will be a bonus and a great confidence booster at this point which we can build on going into the Victoria Cup and next year's final leg of 'Project 2015!'

Finally the Kenya Universities 7's side (yes there is one) departed for Brive, France for the 5th edition of the World University Rugby Sevens Championship.The team is pooled alongside Spain, Belgium, Brazil and Japan in Pool C. The other pools are:

Pool A: France, Poland, Canada, Namibia, Lebanon.
Pool B: Britain, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, Malaysia
Pool D: Portugal, Hungary, Chile, Romania

The tournament takes place on Wednesday 11th, Thursday 12th and Friday the 13th, (teren) all the best to the guys out there, it should be a great experience. Kenya will play as follows:

Day 1 (Wednesday)
Kenya vs Belgium
Kenya vs Spain
Kenya vs Japan

Day 2 (Thursday)
Kenya vs Brazil

Pool C is paired with A, meaning the winner in this Pool will meet the second placed side in Pool A and so forth for the main cup quarters with the third placed in this pool meeting the fourth placed finisher in pool A on the same day.  The semis and finals will be played on Friday...the 13th! (cold wind blows...hehe)
Oh here is the squad:

Ken Isindu, Robert Odhiambo, Brian Okwomi, Joel Maingi, Peter Kepher, Mike Wanjala, Cyprian Kuto, Hastings Nyariki, Joseph Abala, Edwin Salamba, Tonny Owuor, Ken Andola, Samuel Motari. 

A very able side this one sprinkled with sevens experience in Ken Isindu and Mike Wanjala, the likes of Andola, Salamba, Nyariki and Maingi also with their wealth in the shorter version of the game for their respective sides.

With that ladies and gentlemen.....have a great blessed week ahead aaaannnndddd....

KWISHA...nimeruka nje!!!