Mombasa, We Came We Saw....

Kenya ‘B’ became the first African sevens champions after beating Zimbabwe 24-19 at the end of the two day tournament played in Mombasa. As expected, the Shujaa were more than a handful for the opposition, convincingly blowing past them with the greatest of ease.

The Shujaa...OOOKKOOMMBEEE!!! (Photo - KRU)

Day 1

 At the end of day 1, the Shujaa had scored a total of 93 points and had conceded a measly 7 in Pool B, to lead the Cup Quarter finalists. They started the day off with a 21-7 win over Tunisia following it up with a 34-0 and 38-0 drubbing of Namibia and Zambia respectively.

Zimbabwe who were top seeds going into the tournament were ranked second after day 1 action having scored a total of 69 points conceding 27 in Pool A. The nephews from Uncle Bob’s were made to work hard for their first win, battling to a 14-10 against the Kenya C, before comfortably beating Morocco and the Ivory Coast 24-5, 31-12 respectively.

Madagascar were ranked 3^rd, after recording 3 wins on day 1 in Pool C, the islanders recorded 21-0, 24-0 and 12-7 wins over Senegal, Uganda and Nigeria respectively. Other quarter finalists were the impressive Kenya C side and Morocco from Pool A, Tunisia from Pool B and Nigeria alongside Uganda from Pool C.

Ivory Coast, Senegal, Namibia and Zambia were relegated to the bowl competition after finishing in the bottom 4.

The Collated Day 1 results:

Zimbabwe 14 Kenya C 10

Ivory Coast 0 Morocco 42

Tunisia 7 Kenya B 21

Namibia 7 Zambia 17

Nigeria 5 Uganda 10

Madagascar 21 Senegal 0

Morocco 5 Zimbabwe 24

Kenya C 21 Ivory Coast 0

Zambia 0 Tunisia 19

Kenya B 34 Namibia 0

Senegal 5 Nigeria 12

Uganda 0 Madagascar 24

Morocco 7 Kenya C 17

Zambia 0 Kenya B 38

Senegal 5 Uganda 12

Zimbabwe 31 Ivory Coast 12

Tunisia 26 Namibia 12

Nigeria 7 Madagascar 12

The Quarter final pairings were thus as follows:

Main Cup

Kenya B vs Nigeria

Kenya C vs Tunisia

Madagascar vs Uganda

Zimbabwe vs Morocco

Bowl

Ivory Coast vs Senegal

Namibia vs Zambia

Bowl Competition

With only 12 teams taking part, the Bowl was to be between four sides. The first Semi final saw Zambia comfortably beating Namibia 26-0 to progress to the Final. The other semi was an almost similar affair with Senegal beating Ivory Coast 21-5.

The two losers would meet in a last place play off which Namibia won 28-14. The final saw the scores tied at 5 ups at the break, before Zambia charged to a 19-5 final score in the second half to claim the Bowl.

Zambia 26-0 Namibia

Senegal 21-5 Ivory Coast

Namibia 28-14 Ivory Coast

Zambia 19-5 Senegal

Cup Quarters

The first Cup quarter final saw Kenya B make easy work of the Nigerians with a 21-5 win. The Chairman’s select side was however not as lucky, falling to Tunisia 14-17 at the death after leading 14-12 with less than a minute to play. That loss meant the fans were not going to see an all Kenyan semi final, as had Kenya C won this one, they’d have met the Shujaa. Most, including me had hoped to see this Kenyan affair at some point in the tournament, it was not to be.

The other quarter finals ended in wins for Madagascar and Zimbabwe over Uganda and Morocco.

Kenya B 21-5 Nigeria

Tunisia 17-14 Kenya C

Madagascar 12-5 Uganda

Zimbabwe 14-7 Morocco

Plate Competition

After losing to Shujaa, Nigeria had the unfortunate role of meeting the other Kenyan side in the Plate Semi final, where they were blanked 22-0. Apart from the Nigerians, the Tunisians and Zimbabweans were the only other sides that met both Kenyan sides over the two days.

The other Semi final saw a close contest between Morocco and Uganda, with the Ssebos falling to a similar score as they did in the Cup quarter of 12-5 to end their tournament.

The Kenyans were first off the blocks, taking a 5-0 lead into the break against a well structured Morocco side. The second half saw the Moroccans get on level terms then take the lead that they maintained to the end to claim the plate at 12-5.

Kenya C 22-0 Nigeria

Morocco 12-5 Uganda

Morocco 12-5 Kenya C

Cup Competition

The field of Cup contenders had been narrowed down to the top three sides coming into day 2 in Shujaa, Zimbabwe and Madagascar with Tunisia who had been ranked 5^th at the end of day 1.

The first semi final saw Shujaa continue to blow away their opponents as they had been doing this far, blazing to a 24-0 lead at the break over Tunisia who until this point had looked promising. The Kenyans were relentless in the second half scoring another 7 unanswered points for a final tally of 31-0, to ensure their passage to the final.

The other Semi final was a more competitive affair as the Cheetahs of Zimbabwe took on Madagascar. Zimbabwe were first to score for a 5-0 lead, the islanders levelled the score at 5-5 which was the closest they got to the final berth. The Cheetahs scoring two converted tries for a 19-5 final score to set up the final on top of the bookmakers’ list.

Before the final though, there was the small matter of settling who was going to finish 3^rd and 4^th as the Tunisians took on King Julien’s subjects. The Tunisians were clearly more inspired, if you will, by the defeat in the Semi as they raced to a 24-0 Half time lead. The Islanders were probably still reeling from their loss to the Cheetahs in that half. They tried to come back scoring first after the break to make it 24-5 this was before the Tunisians landed the final nail on their coffin with a converted try to make it 31-5 and claim 3^rd spot.

It was now time for the big one, the final. After a cagey couple of minutes, Robert Aringo broke the deadlock, going under the posts after stepping through the middle of the Cheetahs defence, Eden Agero converting to give Shujaa a 7-0 lead at the break. Zimbabwe unfortunate not to have scored in that half despite coming close on a few occasions most notable was Fabian Olando’s last gasp tackle.

The second half started with a renewed sense of urgency as that man Tall broke the Cheetahs defence to sprint 50 meters to the line, conversion going wide to make it 12-0. The Shujaa would stretch that lead to 17 through Captain Phillip Wamae who finished off a great move to dive at the corner. The Cheetahs would pull one back through a Kevin Makunje try to make it 17-5. Eden Agero went over the chalk for the green shirts and converted to make it 24-5 at the half way mark of the second period. Zimbabwe would score two quick tries to narrow the gap to 5 points but their efforts were little too late as the centre referee blew the final whistle to hand the Shujaa the inaugural Africa Sevens Cup.

Philip Wamae receiving the Africa Sevens Cup (Photo - MOR)

Kenya B 31-0 Tunisia

Zimbabwe 19-5 Madagascar

Tunisia 31-5 Madagascar

Kenya B 24-19 Zimbabwe

As I mentioned earlier, Shujaa were a class above the rest of the sides in this tournament, taking nothing away from the rest of the teams, the Kenyans were unplayable over the two days. Let’s hope South Africa shows up in next year’s edition, from what I understand Kenya will only field a single team in the second edition. The Kenya C side also outdid themselves, for a team that only trained for a week, goes to show the depth we have in the sevens.

Generally it was a great learning experience for all the teams that participated, the tournament can only get better and more competitive from here.

There was no time to celebrate for 5 of the Shujaa boys as they had to link up with the rest of the Kenya side travelling to Glasgow Sunday Night. The five are Phillip Wamae, Davis Chenge, Eden Agero, Billy Odhiambo and Felix Ayange. Let's hope the winning mojo rubs off on the rest of the squad.

University and Mtaa Category

The Mtaa category saw Panga win the Bowl after beating Tudor 17-0, Makande claimed the plate trophy after beating Buxton 12-5. The Main Cup in this category went to Nyali after a hard fought 7-0 win over Changamwe.

The Universities category saw the front runners in Machine, Blad, Catholic Uni, TUK and KCA all make it to the Cup competition played on Saturday. They were joined by local side Mombasa Technical University and the Mount Kenya University.

Catholic going on to win the plate 12-5 over KCA, with Blak Blad claiming 3^rd place after edging out TUK 19-14. Daystar upset Mean Machine in the final to lift the main cup with a narrow 7-5 scoreline.

Day 1

Machine 29 Mombasa II 0

TUK 15 MKU 0

Blad 45 Shepherds 0

KCA 50 Msa Poly 0

Catholic 36 Spartans 0

Daystar 14 PCEA 0

MKU 0 Machine 24

Msa II 0 TUK 41

Msa Poly 0 Blad 45

Shepherds 0 KCA 38

PCEA 0 Catholic 14

Spartans 0 Daystar 54

MKU 17 Msa II 5

Msa Poly 31 Shepherds 0

PCEA 0 Spartan 14

Machine 12 TUK 13

Blad 5 KCA 0

Catholic 0 Daystar 12

It was a good two days of sevens rugby, the organisers can give themselves a pat on the back as they start planning for next year’s edition. An area that they can look to improve is on the broadcasting of the games. The union is always talking about how it wants to get sponsors on board and grow the sport, well it’s really hard to sell a product that can’t be seen. This tournament was a great opportunity for the union, to show case the talent and the love this country has for the game, to not only the country but the continent. Whatever might have happened with the broadcasters, there are very viable alternatives to TV, like live streaming, which can also bring in revenue. A missed opportunity there but being the first year, we have surely leaned a lot of lessons. Mombasa was a great venue for the African Cup, we hope it makes the coastal town it's home forever.

With that ladies and gents focus now shifts to the Bamburi Super series set to kick off this coming weekend, do you know the name of the franchise you’ll be supporting? Kengewa, Papa, Nyumbu maybe, Burukenge? 

Hehe more of that in the coming days.....

KWISHA..Nimeruka Nje!!!!