Kabeberi Sevens Review.

It was two days of high octane rugby and a lot of gum chewing, as the National sevens circuit played out it's second last leg, the Pepsi Kabeberi sevens.

Photo Courtesy of Chris Kibe.

Coming into this leg you could say that there was a paradigm shift in the offing as the two front runners in Quins and Mwamba had lost a good number of their players to the national sevens team. KCB who also were without a few of their own players seemed to manage the situation better in Nakuru. The bankers were now in a three horse race for the NSC title, had the other two sides done enough to cover the loss of players or would they fall again?

Day 1 came with it's bag of surprises, the main casualties being hosts Mwamba in what looked like a pretty managable Pool F before hand. After two close calls against Catholic and Bungoma in their first two games, the black shirts saw their hopes of defending the national title fizzle out after they fell to a spirited Blakblad side 10-5. This loss meant that the hosts were relegated to the Bowl competition, you could also say Nondies playing in the bowl was a surprise but looking at their pool you could also say it was expected.

The rest of the teams managed to sail through unscathed, KCB leading the sides going into day 2 after 61-0, 47-5 and 36-0 wins over Mt.Kenya, Comras and Western Bulls. Strathmore coming in second in the rankings after registering 14-0, 29-5 and 22-5 wins over Webuye, Thika and Mean machine respectively. Homeboyz and Kisumu qualifying from Pool D.

In the pool of death, the first round of games saw Quins blank Multimedia 45-0, with Impala beating Nondies 26-17, in the second round of games Quins beat Nondies 26-7 to end the hopes of the white shirts,
Impala kept their hopes of qualifying alive with a 56-0 drubbing of Multimedia. The last set of games saw Nondies beat Multimedia 54-0 to book a place in the Bowl, Multimedia were relegated to the Shield. Quins would meet Impala in the pool decider, though due to the ranking system both could progress. Quins took no chances and saw off their bitter rivals 12-0 to ensure they proceed to the Main cup competition. Impala would join them as one of the two best runners up.

After Day 1 action, the pairings were as below :

Shield Quarter Finals.

Kimathi v Multimedia
UNICEF v Webuye
Stormers v Mount Kenya
Catholic v KCA


Bowl Quarter Finals.

Daystar v Comras
Bulls v Nondies
Machine v Thika
Mwamba v Bungoma

Main Cup Quarter Finals.

KCB v Kisumu
Strathmore v Nakuru
Homeboyz v Impala
Quins v Blak Blad

In the Shield, Kimathi university earned a spot in the final without as much as touching a ball after both Unicef Kakamega and Webuye failed to show up. The stormers beat Mt.Kenya 28-7 to set up a semi final berth against Catholic who had edged out KCA 10-5.

In the bowl, the Comras saw off Daystar 12-7 with Nondies beating Western Bulls 22-5, Machine beat Thika for the second time in the tournament 29-5, they had previously beat the Thika side 27-5 in day 1 action, credit to the Machine kicker at least he improved overnight hehe..Hosts Mwamba who had narrowly beat the hard tackling Bungoma 17-12 in Day 1 looked to cement that dominance, though they did win it was no where near dominant with a 10-5 scoreline.
 
In the Main Cup, KCB met Kisumu for the second time this season, KCB having won the previous meeting in Dala if my memory hasn't been corrupted by all the gum chewing I've been doing over the weekend hehe. KCB made it two in two with a 22-14 win, Nakuru getting past Strathmore by the skin of their teeth 14-12. Homeboyz seeing off Ngong road neighbours Impala 17-12 despite the red shirts having led 12-5 at the half and failing to capitalise on valuable possession late on in the match. The last Quarter final saw the team of the tournament for me Blakblad almost claim the scalps of Quins though they fell 10-5. Remember Sudi's tackle in the dying minutes of that game..waaah!!

This set up the following pairings for the semi finals :


Main Cup Semis
Quins vs Homeboyz
KCB vs Nakuru

Plate Semis
Strathmore vs Kisumu
Blak Blad vs Impala

Bowl Semis
Mwamba vs Machine
Nondies vs Comras

Shield Semis
Kimathi w/o
Stormers vs Catholic

In the Shield, Stormers set up a final berth against Kimathi after beating Catholic 26-22.

The Bowl saw Nondies dominate from 'gun to tape' in their encounter against the Comras though only managing a 19-7 score. The hosts were out to salvage the little pride they had after what had been a tough few games for the traditional kings of sevens rugby. This they did with a 19-7 over rivals Machine to set up an 'uptown' vs 'down town' final against Nondies. 

In the plate, Strathmore beat Kisumu 17-5 after leading 12-5 at the break, team of the tournament Blakblad claimed another big gun in Impala, beating the now fading gazelles 12-0.

The Main Cup welcomed first timers Homeboyz who would come up against the lunch bar quins, we'll get to that match later. KCB met Nakuru for the second time in as many weekends having embarrassed the Wanyore 36-0 at the Prinsloo final. The wanyore were looking to return the favour here, KCB out to cement that result. The game itself was more of a replay of sorts, a hat trick of tries from KCB's Peter Kilonzo and one from Edwin Salamba saw the bankers put 24 past the Nakuru side this despite finishing the game with six men after Dennis Mwanja saw yellow for a dangerous tackle.

The second semi was more of a contest, with Homeboyz looking to make it to their maiden final and with a real shot at this the Djs were out to give it their all. Quins had looked shaky over the two days it was now time to bring out their A game. Quins started off the better of the two sides two tries from Arthur Ochieng and Peter Abuoga to see Quins 12-0 mid way through the first half. Homeboyz would regroup and reply via Leonard Mugaisi after he clocked round the Quins defence to take the scores to 12-7. Quins would have the last say of the half through a Lyle Asiligwa try to take the game to 17-7 at the break. The second half was a more cagey affair with Quins seemingly content with their lead. Homeboyz on the other hand throwing the kitchen sink and all at the Quins but to no avail, that was until the Djs got a break through with less than a minute to play with a try underneath the sticks. What the players decided to do after the try was rather shocking, you see they had come up with a dance to celebrate their tries a pretty catchy move at that and had been doing it religiously over the two days. But surely not now...but guess what they went ahead to perform their dance which takes up a big chunk of 15 seconds so before they could convert and go back to kick off the game the hooter had gone together with their hopes of a main cup final. I don't know what they call the dance but "The dance that cost us the final" is quite an appropriate name at this point. Hope they learned from that one..

The Final round was then as Follows:

Main Cup Final
Lunch Bar Quins vs KCB

Plate Final
Strathmore Leos vs Blak Blad

Bowl Final
Nondies vs Mwamba

Shield Final
Stormers vs Kimathi 

The Shield final saw a fresh Kimathi side who had waited on this final for the whole day go down to the Stormers and by a rather big margin 35-0, I guess that means the Stormers players were fresher than the Kimathi University students. Ama Kimathi walienda kuchew gum wakingoja game?

The Bowl final what I dubbed the 'uptown' vs 'downtown' showdown saw Nondies come up against hosts Mwamba. The hosts looking for the bowl as consolation came up against a well oiled Nondies side in what was a tight encounter, the scores were tied 5 all at the break before 'us guys of Nondies' took the lead 10-5 and remained with it to the end of the game to claim the Bowl title. Heart break for the hosts, I overheard a fan shout at the end of the game "Mtu wa Mwamba asiwai nibongesha juu ya Rudge..mnahost tona na mnashindwa kuwin Bowl, kwani nyi ni Arsenal?!" Dont agree with the last part of that statement though he is right to some extent..

The plate final saw a university derby with the impressive Blakblad taking on Strathmore, the blad had earned their spot in this final with wins over Mwamba and Impala, they were looking to add onto that collection. Strathmore would have hoped for a better end to the tournament especially after losing narrowly to Nakuru though the Plate would come as a welcome improvement from Prinsloo. A brace from Maurice Mbai saw Strath take a 12-0 lead at the half, Blak Blad would respond in the second to make it 12-7 though they couldn't get past the Leos after this. Strathmore claiming the Plate title, though as I said before Blakblad were my team of the tournament by a mile, if anyone had asked me to define team work I'd have told them to wait for a Blakblad game.

The Main Cup final pitted two sides that have had a healthy rivalry over the recent past, Quins and KCB. Quins have the upper hand in this one but KCB were looking to tilt the tables if not turn them completely with a win here. The lunch bars had struggled to hit top form over the two days and were lucky to be in this final according to a few pundits. KCB on the other hand had been almost flawless over the two days. Many predicted a second title for the boys in green, seeing as as the bankers were dismissing Nakuru and Kisumu, Quins were struggling against Blakblad and Homeboyz.This though was a final, it usually is about who turns up for the ball game first.

KCB started off on the right footing, through Peter Kilonzo to take the early lead 7-0, Quins were quick to reply via Arthur Ochieng to bring the scores to 7-5. Quins were the far more physical side and were happy to bamboozle their way to the line, the likes of K'opondo, Sudi, Baraza dishing out the pain to the smaller KCB side. (You dont get to see that alot, KCB being dominated physically). Max Theuri would give Quins the lead going into the break with a try at the corner to make it 10-7. Quins stretched that lead through Wilson K'opondo the towering forward brushing off two KCB tackles to ground the ball at the center Asiligwa converting to make it 17-7. KCB would not burge immediately getting on the Attack, Dennis Mwanja replicating what K'opondo had done earlier with Edwin Salamba touching down and Collins Kimani converting to make it a 3 point game with 5 minutes to play. KCB would continue piling the pressure on the Quins defence but a mix up at a ruck inside the Quins 22 saw Sudi pick up the lose ball and run the length of the pitch to score at the corner to make it 22-14. KCB would fail to get back from this with Quins marching back to winning ways to lift their 3rd title this season.

KCB's Edwin Salamba was awarded the MVP, Darwin Mukidza taking home the top point scorer's trophy. Quins now open a 6 point gap over KCB as that win takes them to 98 points with KCB on 92. These two will be doing battle for the overall title at the coast. Strathmore are third on 64 points, Nakuru who lie fourth on 63 points. Homeboyz and Kisumu are level on 53 points with the Djs taking fifth courtesy of a superior try count. Mwamba's poor show at the Kabeberi sees them drop to 7th on 52 points. My team of the tornament are 9th on 21 ponts 8 behind Imapala.

Moments of the tournament, I already mentioned Sudi's tackle on a Blakblad player, then there was the Comras guy who grounded the ball akidinya grao hehe, then there was Tito Oduk's 50 meter run in the Bowl semi, though he did not make it to the line it did lead to a try.. Strathmore's Adrian hand off on a Kisumu guy at the wing before he grounded the ball...there were lots of highlights those are the ones that I could remember.

After Day 1 action, attention moved to the Pride Inn restaurant in Westalands for the second edition of the Elliptics awards, here is the winners' roster:

Rookie of the Year: Eden Agero
School Of The Year: Kakamega High School.
Referee Of The Year: Sarah Otieno.
Team Of The Year: Kenya Harlequins.
Coach Of The Year: Tito Oduk.
Best Media-Audio: Capital FM
Best Print-Media: Nation.
Best Media-Visual: Citizen Sports.

Director Of The Year: Philip Jalang'o.
MVP-Female: Lt. Aberdeen Shikoyi.
MVP-Male: Edwin Machanje.
Fan Of The Year: Fiona Amusudzu.
Hall Of Fame: The 2009 World Cup Semi-Finalist Kenya 7s Team & Management.

(Benjamin Ayimba, Felix Ochieng, Oscar Osir, George Odhiambo, Wanjiku Wairia-Lumula, Geoffrey Kimani, Humphrey Kayange, Victor Oduor, Wilson Kopondo, Ben Nyambu, Sidney Ashioya, Lavin Asego, Biko Adema, Collins Injera, Horace Owiti, Gibson Weru, Dennis Mwanja, Innocent Simiyu, Allan Onyango)

Deserving winners if I may add, couldn't agree more with that list especially the Hall of Fame.

Before I forget, a big kudos to the organising committee of the 2012 Pepsi Kabeberi sevens, it was a great and well run two days.

With that ladies and gentlemen....have fun chewing the week ahead, I know most of you went home with a full carton of Fresh chewing gum hehe...

KWISHA...Nimeruka Nje!!!


Count Down to Africa's Premier Sevens Tournament : 11 Days..