Not a very action packed weekend as far as rugby is concerned, but a very pivotal week none the less. As we all know the KXVs were defending their C.A.R division 1A title in Jemmal Tunisia with a universities side also representing the nation in Brive France.
In France, the universities side finished third in their pool, having lost to Belgium 7-10, drew with Spain 19 ups and with Japan 17 ups. This saw the lads play in the Plate quarter where they lost to Canada 21-24, which further relegated them to playing in the 3rd and 4th play off of the Plate category also losing that one 12-14. This saw the side finish 12th overall out of the 18 participating teams. Considering that this was a team that was put together on adhoc basis they did good, though they did not win a single match, they did not lose by much either, it was the fine margins that come with playing together that was the difference at the end of the day..all in all well in Lads.
In Tunisia the KXVs managed to remain in division 1A and keep project 2015 alive, it was no easy task though. We first went down narrowly to Uganda, 19-20 in the semi final yeah very painful, but picked ourselves up in the third place play off to beat the host Nation Tunisia 31-24 in what was a see saw affair. We went into the half leading 14-13 courtesy of Mose and Adimo tries, then trailed 14-16 at one point we then went on to tie at 21 all with precious little time left. The introduction of Machanje was what made the difference, the substitute making a great run to set up Oscar Ouma for the try with K'opondo bringing it home at 31-24. Exciting as that was, the loss to Uganda still leaves a bad taste, but well we will fight another day. By the way the sebos went onto lose to Zimbabwe 22-18 to finish second. Next year's division 1A will double up as the 2015 World cup qualifier, we will be fighting for this spot against Uganda, Zimbabwe and now Madagascar.
After the C.A.R championships the latest IRB rankings saw us jump a two spots up to 38th, Uganda are 41st with Zimbabwe ranked 29th. Focus now shifts to the Victoria cup, Kenya host Zim on 28th, the Mugabe boys will be playing host to the sebos this weekend (21st) in Harare.
Locally, the confusion that has now become the Enterprise Cup took another twist at the weekend, with KCB showing up at the RFUEA ready to play Quins. But arrived to an unwilling host so to say, the with the quartered shirts not turning up for the game. KCB captain and Match referee Karimi signing the match sheet and the game awarded as a walk over to KCB. This being Kenya Rugby though let's wait and see...
Finally whispers going round are that Ulinzi Rugby will be back..they are just whispers for now but very promising ones. Let's hope that we'll get to see the disciplined forces playing together once more. Harufu ya Masaku inanukia by the way...Kilunda time coming up, nooo vaaa....
A Happy birthday to former, or is it next former Machine Captain Cedric ' Cedo' Odera, he turns 45 on this day...but just play along atasema anaturn sijui 24 ama 25..lol!
With that ladies and gents....
KWISHA...nimeruka Nje!!!
P.S To all the new Rugby fans...something for you coming up soon!
No, no, no. Next year's division 1A does NOT double as the 2015 RWC qualifier. It's just another CAR year and Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya and Madagascar must to avoid relegation from 1A while those in 1B battle to get promoted. Whoever finishes the year in 1A next year will be the ones to fight to become 2014 champs. 2014 champs qualify as Africa's representatives (excluding SA of course) while the runners up go through the repachage system. SO theoretically Namibia, Sengal, Tunisia and whoever comes up from 1C all still have a shot at 2015 RWC qualification.
ReplyDeleteEhh sawa IRB, hehe but thank you didn't know they changed it.
Deletegood piece, n true, rwc qualifiers has been moved to 2014, obvious reasons(Namibia).
ReplyDeletena umeacha kuniekea twitter ama fb, lazma nitafute by force.
stupid man,
Siku hizi hakuna watu hutagiwa..nilirealise nawaspoil. you know what they say..chema chajiuza..and besides hata ka ningekua natag watu, sikumbuki nikitag 'Anonymous'weka jina Stupider man..haha!
DeleteExcellent post as always Poghie. One suggestion, you should add the facebook comments plugin on the site so pple can comment via their FB accounts. The comments will increase exponentially :)
ReplyDeletewill do..
DeleteCorrection on France. Kenya beat Canada 24-21 in the plate Qtrs. We lost in the plate semis to Italy 7-10.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wuc-rugbybrive2012.com/en/competition/art-calendrier.html
They(aka Strath7s he he) did well nonetheless.