St Mary’s Yala narrowly defeated archrivals Maseno School 5-0 to retain the Nyanza Secondary Schools rugby 7’s title.
Dennis Akwiri scored an unconverted try in the tough final played at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology on Monday.
En route to the finals, the Saints slayed Agoro Sare 17-0 while Maseno School needed a sudden death try to beat Kisii School 10-5 in the other semifinal.
Both teams, however, proceed to the regionals to be held at Kakamega High School from August 8-14. Yala coach Ken Mukok said all four teams that reached the semis were at the same level.
“All the semifinalists were tough and any team that made mistakes was eliminated. It was a very tough competition but I’m happy I have retained the title,” said Mukok.
Mukok added: “My target at the nationals is first to qualify for the East Africa Games to be held in Rwanda. Secondly, I want to lift the national 7’s trophy which has eluded us for many years. Yala are former nationals rugby 15’s winner.
His Maseno counterpart Steve Oluoch said luck was not on their side. “It was a tough final. We blew three opportunities to score tries while Yala got one and utilised it. The gods were not on our side today.”
He added: “Despite the narrow loss, we are going to the nationals and my target is to lift the trophy. The boys have not lost hope. We are going to work extra hard before the nationals. We want to exhibit good rugby at the nationals,” added Oluoch.
Agoro Sare settled for third place after a 19-17 win over regional 15’s champions Kisii School. Kisii School coach Lee Aston said: “It was not our day. We now turn our focus on the Prescott Cup which we shall use as our preparations for next year’s competition.”
