Kenya Simbas hunt down stubborn Uganda Cranes in Elgon Cup

George Nyambua (left) of Kenya Simbas tackles Charles Uhuru of Uganda Cranes during the first leg match of the 2024 Elgon Cup at the RFUEA Grounds, Nairobi on November 9, 2024. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]Caption

Simbas struggled to beat a resilient Uganda Cranes 27-25 in the first leg of the 2024 Elgon Cup at RFUEA Grounds on Saturday.

The victory put Simbas in a pole position of winning their seventh consecutive regional title ahead of next Saturday's return leg in Kampala, Uganda.

The action packed day began with the Legends by Nondescripts seeing off UK Tritons 19-14 in a friendly match before hosts Kenya Harlequins suffered a 39-16 defeat to KCB.

This was followed by an entertaining encounter between the two East African rivals. Griffin Chao gave Kenya the lead with an unconverted try putting the Simbas before Jeanson Misoga touched down off a rolling maul with Timothy Omela put in the extras to make the score 12-00.

Uganda responded swiftly, scoring two converted tries to take a 14-12 lead into half time. The visitors continued from where they left off in the first half, scoring a penalty to extend their lead.

But Brian Wahinya proved his worth with a try that was successfully converted by Omela for Simbas to regain the lead.

Impressive Wahinya then completed his brace of the evening instantly after producing some brilliant display and outpacing his opponents off a scrum down. But Omela's conversion went wide to the dismay of the many Kenyan fans who had thronged the stadium as the score board to read 24-17.

The stubborn Uganda narrowed the gap with Robin Philip's unconverted try (24-22), but Jone Kubu came off the bench to score what ended up to be a crucial penalty for Kenya. The Ugandans then narrowed the score with a penalty but the Kenyans held on their nerves to secure a slim 27-25 win.