Kenya Harlequins Crowned '05 National 7s Champions

By Herbert Mwachiro
October 17 2005

Kenya Harlequin FC were yesterday crowned the 2005 National Rugby Sevens Champions at the RFUEA grounds. Quins needed to qualify for the final of the Christie Sevens to have an unassailable lead in the standings.

How sweet this was as it was achieved by beating bitter rivals and next door neighbours Impala RFC in a mouth watering semi-final yesterday (16th Sept 2005) afternoon. This was made even sweeter by the fact that Impala had bragged the whole week that they would use any means necessary to stop Quins from becoming champions. And they did not disappoint.

Day one started by Quins winning all their 3 games to book their passage into the quarterfinals where they would face Mean Machine. The teams brushed aside were USIU-A, JKUAT and Mwamba ll. Meanwhile Impala seemingly lost an easy game in their pool against Nondies in order to finish second in their pool and set up a pathway to meeting Quins in the semis. This annoyed many rugby lovers as no one in their sane minds would consider throwing away a game just to achieve their goals. Nonetheless Impala did just that. Whether the Union will address the issue will remain to be seen.

Come day two and the action kicked off where it left off the previous day fast, furious and exciting. Quins despatched a sorry looking Mean Machine to book their places in the semis while Impala did likewise with KCB to set up a date with Quins. The other two semi places were taken up by old rivals Nondies and Mwamba. The eagerly awaited encounter between Quins and Impala saw an impressive crowd turn up for the game.Would Impala's arrogance and gamble pay off? Or would the patience exercised by Quins since the beginning of the circuit come a cropper? The 14 minutes of play held the answer as both teams charged into the battlefield fully loaded, armed and ready. This was not one for the faint hearted.

Allan Makaka opened the scoring for Quins immediately the game started and Abuoga also crossed the line with both tries being converted to see Quins lead 14-0 at the breather. Upon resumption Impala were back in and levelled to make it 14 all with 2 quick tries. The tension on the ground was unbelievable as both sides equally gave as good as they got. The fans were dying as it was adrenaline at its best. Quins raised it to another level and got their reward with a try in the last minute by Allan Makaka after some good spadework by Patrick Onyango, Dan Ngonga and Sidney Ashioya. Ngonga made good the conversion as the buzzer went and even before the ref could blow his final whistle, a wave of humanity was already celebrating the win and its just reward the National Sevens Championship. Quins had secured the National Sevens title. The enemy had been vanquished and banished to Hades.

The other semi saw Mwamba dismiss Nondies in a totally one-sided affair to book a place in the finals against the new national Champions Quins. With Quins minds elsewhere Mwamba raced off with the Christie Sevens which was a just reward for their effort.
The presentations saw saw Quins receive the National Title as well as their own boy Sidney Ashioya ended up as the top try scorer from all the rounds. Allan Makaka scooped the Christies top try scorer award.

The Clubhouse then turned wild with celebrations as the Quins family proceeded to get very very very tired as a just reward of 6 weeks hard work, commitment and patience. Congratulations go mainly to the players and coaches as well as those behind the scenes who helped and ensured that the common goal was achieved. Well in Boys! Sure, Strong, Superior!

Quins 1: Felix Ochieng, Kiragu Ngunya, Allan Onyango, Joash Odhallo, Sidney Ashioya (c), Patrick Onyango, Allan Makaka, David Mogere, Francis Rono, Daniel Ngonga, Eddie Odhiambo, Peter Abuoga,

Coach: Gordon Anampiu

Team manager: Allan Khakame

And this weekend we were very very very 'tired'.