Rhinos beat Victoria 46-9 in Bamburi Super Series

By Bs Mulavi

Champions Rhinos started their campaign to defend the Bamburi Super Series silverware in resounding fashion as they crushed Victoria 46-9 in a one-sided match at the RFUEA grounds.

Head coach Eric Situma said everything worked in their favour and it was a perfect result from the fruits of their labour.
“I have to say that the weather favoured us,” he said.

“We have been training in rain for the past two weeks and we are used to the muddy conditions like at our home turf,” he explained.

“We just had to implement our game plan, which worked and you have seen how it was for us.”
The Rhino kept the ball close to their forwards and each player was careful not to spring the ball too wide, which in the end was difficult for the visitors to handle. Despite the victory and the joy that comes with it, Situma has refused to take out the champagne bottle and instead is bracing himself for a bruising and more challenging fixture next weekend.

“All credit to Victoria but I think Rwenzori will be a much harder game mostly because of the number of Uganda national team players that are involved in their side,” he said. “We will have to prepare adequately to play that game and hope it will all work out for us as it did today.”

Full of praise

The Nakuru-based coach was in full praise for his squad for a good display, but he had some special words reserved for Kenya Harlequin flanker Brian Nyikuli whom he feels was instrumental in the fixture.

“It is very hard for us to pick one person who was man of the match because many today played their hearts out,” he revealed.
“However I feel that Nyikuli’s maturity really helped today. Whenever he had the ball he played decisively and always took the team’s momentum forward.”

Rhinos once again look like a formidable force in the series and the other franchise sides will have to raise their games if they hope to dethrone the five time champions.

After the first weekend of the super series everyone will be fully aware of the potential of their opponent’s side. Two more group games remain before the knock out stages in the final two weekends of the tournament.