National Under 20 chipu rugby team captain Michael Wamalwa says Sunday’s match against Zimbabwe is an opportunity to exert revenge for their loss to the Southern Africans in the final of the Barthes Cup in May.
The two sides meet again at the World Under 20 Rugby Trophy on Sunday for the fifth-place playoff match at the Nyayo Stadium.
Wamalwa described the game as ‘personal’ to each and every one of the squad and that they will all fight like wounded warriors to restore pride to the Kenyan flag.
“That game is going to very personal for us…let me just say. For us, we don’t care how well or bad they have been playing in this tournament. We met them in the final of the Barthes Cup where they beat us …the defence is what cost us and I would say we have come a long way then. We are eager to meet them,” Wamalwa said.
The Junior Sables edged a hotly-contested match in May at the same venue, where they overcame a partisan home crowd to emerge 28-7 winners.
Both of African representatives have not had the best of campaigns in the two-week tournament, having won only one game in their respective pools.
Chipu concluded their Pool B matches on a high, with a nail-biting 22-16 win over Hong Kong as Zimbabwe ensured one of their best-ever performances in the history of the competition with an equally nerve-racking 38-37 win over the United States in an earlier match.
Michael Oduor drew first blood for the home boys with a try in the fifth minute before the opponents replied with a penalty in the eighth minute through Dylan McCann.
The Asians went into the front seat via captain Tyler McNutt before Eddy Murage scored a penalty to level the scores at 10-10.
Kabras Sugar’s Jacktone Omondi put the ball over the white line at the stroke of halftime as the Kenyans’ defensive resoluteness managed to keep their marauding rivals at bay.
The second half was a similarly topsy-turvy affair as Hong Kong laid siege to Kenya’s backline but Chipu were in no mood to crumble like they did in their previous matches against Samoa and Spain.
Another penalty by McCann gave the visitors a flicker of hope but all this was snuffed out in the 48th minute as Oduor scored his second try of the afternoon to widen Kenya’s advantage in the match.
Hong Kong replied with another penalty to leave the scores poised at 22-16 and guarantee another uneasy ending to the match for the hosts.
It was a collective sigh of relief for the crowd at Nyayo Stadium as referee Tevita Rokovereni signalled for the end of the match after two additional minutes characterized by barrage of attacks by Hong Kong.
Reflecting on the win, Wamalwa was over the moon, attributing their hard-fought feat to their defensive maturity.
“We have been improving since Matchday one…from Samoa to Spain and now to Hong Kong. I would say today’s win was as a result of defensive maturity. I am so happy because this is our first win of this tournament,” he said.
So near, yet so far
Speaking at the same time, Hong Kong’s McNutt admitted they were gutted to lose after putting in a lot of effort to prepare for the game.
“Like you said, so close and yet so far…as a team we have progressed so much coming into the competition. From our first game in our training camp in Amsterdam to this match, we have grown a lot. I think we played well but the home team, I think they played a little bit better,” McNutt said.
McNutt, who plies his club trade at New Zealand’s Hautapu, said the team must learn to take their opportunities when they get them.
“I think we just didn’t take our chances when we got them. We had a good scrum opportunity that we didn’t execute. All in all, I think we have learnt a lot not just in rugby but off the field…lessons on resilience and interacting with people. It has been all round,” he said.
Hong Kong play the United States in their seventh place playoff match on Sunday.
