Kabras Sugar Buffaloes snapped their losing form with a 27-21 win over Faiba Mobile Rhinos. Griffin Chao’s brilliance from the left wing propelled the young side coached by former Kenya International Max Adaka to victory over a rejuvenated Faiba Mobile Rhinos.
Both sides came into this game rejuvenated, each side seeking their first win of the Rugby Super Series. Faiba Mobile Rhinos were first off the blocks through John Aswani’s try. Evin Asena converted to see them lead 7-0.
The lead however was short lived as Man of the Match Griffin Chao showed a clean pair of heels to his markers to land a center post try. Eric Cantona converted to level the scores. The two teams would then trade yellow cards, Faiba Mobile Rhino’s Sheldon Kahi the first to the bin.
Eric Cantona would be the next to head to the bin for repeated infringement. However, his side would take the lead in his absence, captain Geoffrey Shitambasi going over from a dominant maul. Samuel Omollo with the kicking duties made sure to add the extras for a 14-7 lead at half time.
The second half would start with Chao doing his magic again, weaving his way down the left side to go over for his double. Cantona with the extras. The next 20 minutes would then belong to the Faiba Mobile Rhinos. First, hooker Adam Mugo went over from a rolling maul.
Then Amon Wamalwa added three consecutive penalties to level the scores at 21-21. However, it was not to be for the Calum Oliver-coached side as Eric Cantona gave Kabras Sugar Buffaloes the win with two additional penalties.
With the win, the Kabras Sugar Buffaloes go level on points with the Menengai Cream Cheetahs who will be taking on KCB Bank Lions in the second game.
Speaking after the game, Calum Oliver expressed his frustrations with his sides’ missed chances and unforced errors.”We had the game in the second half, but our unforced error count was super high,” said Oliver.
“It is also difficult for us seeing as we do not have the biggest of players especially in the forwards. However, it was nice playing under the sun, we had a chance to play with ball in hand and that is a positive,” concluded Oliver.
In Kakamega, the Kabras Sugar Buffaloes will face the KCB Bank Lions and the win today will go a long way to boost their confidence. “We had time to work on our errors from last week and it showed in our game today. The few experienced guys we brought in also did very well to marshal the troops and we are very happy for the win,” said Max Adaka, Kabras Sugar Buffaloes Head Coach.
