Kenya: Commonwealth Games - Shujaa Show Uganda Who's Boss in Birmingham

29 July 2022
Capital FM (Nairobi)
By Timothy Olobulu

Nairobi — Shujaa started off their Commonwealth Games campaign on a high, hitting Uganda's Rugby Cranes 27-14 in their opening Group D match in Birmingham on Friday afternoon.

Shujaa ran in five tries, one of which was converted while Uganda crossed over twice, and converted all, but not enough to shake down a well worked victory for Damian McGrath's men.

Johnstone Olindi crossed over twice while Billy 'The Kid' Odhiambo, Herman Humwa and Kelvin Wekesa had one try each for Shujaa. Former Kabras Sugar man Philip Wokarach and Timothy Kisiga went over for Uganda.

Olindi dotted down Kenya's first try when SHujaa took advantage of Uganda's numerical handicap. Ian Munyani was sent to the sinbin for lifting on the tackle and from the resultant scrum, Olindi sneaked on the outside to dot down. The conversion was wide and Shujaa led 5-0.

The Kenyan boys extended the lead to 12-0 when Humwa crossed over following a pretty offload from Tony Omondi. Off a quickly taken penalty, Olindi picked up, swung to Omondi who dummied past three markers before releasing Humwa.

The conversion was good and Shujaa stood 12-0 tall.

They extended the score to 17-0 when Odhiambo also got into the try party after Kenya won the ball from the restart. From the base of a ruck, Odhiambo sneaked off with the ball and dotted down.

Uganda however narrowed the deficit just before halftime when Kisiga found some space in the backline and cut through, the conversion following home for a 17-7 score at the break.

Former Kabras man Wokarach used his speed on the right to glide away under the posts to reduce the game to a three-point contest with his converted try, creating some butterflies for Kenya.

But the experienced Shujaa bounced back, taking advantage of Uganda's indiscipline once again when Adrian Kasito was sent to the sin bin.

With numbers in their favour, Olindi added his second of the afternoon when he sneaked through a gap in the Ugandan defense. The conversion was wide but Shujaa had a 22-14 lead.

At the death, substitute Wekesa completed the party with a good run down the right, Uganda's pack being pulled away to the left to create space.

Read the original article on Capital FM.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2022 Capital FM. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 400 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.