Gold Coast sevens and Floodies Semi Finals Preview

Well, it's finally here..the HSBC sevens circuit kicks off in a couple of hours and finally we get to see the mboys in action! Personally I've been waiting for this moment since the 40 or so guys were called into camp, and yes we did get to see them during the Safaricom sevens, but this is the real deal!
Back home the Airtel Impala floodlit tournament enters its semi final stage with a set of interesting ties or should I say unexpected..most did not see this coming.

Captain's call at the beach, AAA 5th on the left, but you knew that..

As we all know, Kenya is pooled alongside England, Samoa and Spain in Pool C, some one at the IRB must have known how eagerly we are all waiting to see the mboys as we will be playing in the first match of the day. A lot has been made of this match in the build up, what with Mike Friday meeting his former side and I don't think I need to put it to you again. This one will be Kenya's 434th match at the series, and a very important one, it will be the first in the journey to recovery. It's importance will not really be result wise but its vital that we get in a good performance early on despite what the score board will read at the final buzzer. England are a great side but if history is anything to go by then we usually do give them a tough ball game.Last time we met, that piece of history failed to come into play..the red roses won by 40-7 in Scotland, by that time we were in free fall so it doesn't really count hehe. Before that it was in Hong Kong, where we narrowly lost 21-17..I could go on and on but I must mention the 7 all draw in Vegas, it was our best result against them last season, point is..expect a cracker, if you do manage to wake up at 3 am!!

Second match of the day will be against Samoa at 6:58 am, I don't have a historical pattern for them but I think it should be more or less the same as the roses. Last time we met they beat us 19-7 in a Pool A match in Hong kong, lost 19-14 in the Vegas main cup quarter, with the Samoans going on to win that leg. Before that they beat us 31-17 in the Dubai shield final. Another tough one but again looks doable... The last match on Day 1 will be against Spain, at 10:58 am, now I am not under estimating the Spanish in any way, they made core status last season but this one we have to win, we saw a glimpse of their team here at saf sevens and the Morans did beat them at the semi so yeah..

Progression to the main cup competition on Day 2 will highly depend on whether we beat one of Samoa and England or better yet both, I know I'm stating the obvious here but it has to be said, and hope one of the two fail to beat Spain or if they do with a smaller margin than we do. If we do make it to the Min Cup competition, I'd be a very happy man, and it would be a great start for the guys..

Kenya vs England 3:30 am
Kenya vs Samoa 6:58 am
Kenya vs Spain 10:58 am

With day one action at the Gold coast done, attention will now move to the Impala grounds for the semi finals:

Schools:
MFA v Mangu - 1.00pm
Lenana v Dagoretti - 2.20pm

Universities:
Kenya Poly v Machine II - 11.30am
Strathmore II v USIU - 3.30pm
 
Clubs:
Nakuru v Nondies - 6.00pm

Machine v Impala - 7.30pm

 

 The schools category which kicks off at 1 pm, I guess owing to the fact that the kids have to go through Saturday morning prep first, sees MFA face off against Mangu with Lenana coming up against Dagoretti. An unexpected line up for the semis, though with the teachers' strike and the quick turn of fortunes in different schools I guess it was bound to happen. By this you know I'm referring to Nairobi School not being in the semis. That aside, I see a Dagoretti vs MFA final...

 

The universities category sees Kenya Poly take on Machine II, in the first semi. The second string eschuma side 'esmbao' maybe? dismissed JKUAT in the only University game I watched last weekend and I must say I fancy them to make it to the final. The other Semi see's Strath II meet USIU in the 3:30 pm kick off, this one is too close to call.

 

In the Clubs category, Nakuru who have never made it past the Semi finals of the floodlit tournament will be up against a Nondies side who have not won the competition during most of our rugby lives, in the Oil derby. The Menengai Oil Nakuru who edged out Blakblad 34-9 will be looking to build on that win to make it through to their first final. The Total Nondies on the other hand will be buoyed by their last minute win over KCB last weekend and will be the more confident of the two sides coming into this one. Nondies look to have found a winning combination judging from the KCB game and will be banking on this combi to get them through. Nakuru who struggled at times against blad will have to improve to beat this Total Nondies side especially at the forwards. 

 

Defending champions Machine face off against hosts and 6 time champs Impala in the last fixture of the day. For Impala I guess the resurgence begins now though according to some of their fans it really doesn't matter..they already won the Ngong road derby! The team though must be looking to build on last weekend's win as they start rebuilding their reputation. Machine on the other hand revel at this tournament, I think if the Kenya cup were to be held under floodlights, Machine would be up there with the contenders. Which begs the question, ni nini na watu wa Machine na giza? That aside, the defending Champions looked good on their way to that 29-6 win over Strathmore and will have to keep this form to deny the hosts a berth in the final. 

With that ladies and gents.....enjoy your rugby packed weekend, oh there's also the pirates beach rugby at the coast this weekend...wow!!

KWISHA....Nimeruka Nje!!!